Obama meets Mandela family

SOUTH AFRICA: US President Barack Obama met the family of his "inspiration" Nelson Mandela in South Africa on Saturday but was unable to see the anti-apartheid legend who remains critically ill in hospital.

Despite tentative signs of an improvement in the condition of the 94-year-old icon, who has been in intensive care for more than three weeks, Obama decided not to visit Mandela for fearing of disturbing his "peace and comfort".

Instead Obama met privately with relatives of his fellow Nobel peace laureate, including two daughters and several grandchildren, and spoke by telephone with Mandela's wife Graca Machel.

"I expressed my hope that Madiba draws peace and comfort from the time that he is spending with loved ones, and also expressed my heartfelt support for the entire family as they work through this difficult time," Obama said, using Mandela's clan name.

Machel said she had "drawn strength from the support" offered by the Obama family.

"I am humbled by their comfort and messages of strength and inspiration which I have already conveyed to Madiba." Speaking earlier in Pretoria, where Mandela lay fighting for his life in a nearby hospital, Obama praised the "moral courage" of South Africa's first black President.

"The struggle here against apartheid, for freedom, Madiba's moral courage, his country's historic transition to a free and democratic nation, has been a personal inspiration to me. It has been an inspiration to the world," Obama said after talks with President Jacob Zuma.

"The outpouring of love that we've seen in recent days shows that the triumph of Nelson Mandela and this nation speaks to something very deep in the human spirit -- the yearning for justice and dignity that transcends boundaries of race and class and faith and country," he added.

AFP