Obama will not visit Mandela –US official
This two-picture combination of file photos shows Nelson Mandela on Aug. 8, 2012, left, and President Barack Obama on May 31, 2013. It was as a college student that President Barack Obama began to find his political voice. Inspired by Nelson Mandela’s struggle against South Africa’s apartheid government, the young Obama joined campus protests against the white racist rule that kept Mandela locked away in prison for nearly three decades. Now a historic, barrier-breaking figure himself, Obama will arrive in South Africa Friday to find a country drastically transformed by Mandela’s influence, and a nation grappling with the beloved 94-year-old’s mortality. (AP Photo/File)
PRETORIA–US President Barack Obama will not visit his political hero Nelson Mandela in hospital, out of deference for the anti-apartheid icon’s “peace and comfort,” a US official said Saturday.
Obama and his wife Michelle will however spend time with Mandela’s family to offer “thoughts and prayers at this difficult time,” the official said, as the US leader arrived in Pretoria for talks with President Jacob Zuma.
