With military pomp and traditional
rituals, South Africa buried Nelson Mandela on Sunday, thus marking
the end of an exceptional journey for the prisoner turned President.
Mandela, who died on December 5 at the
age of 95, was laid to rest in his childhood village of Qunu. His
body travelled from Pretoria by air to Mthatha in Eastern Cape province,
and then by road to Qunu .
Present at the private burial were
about 450 members of the Mandela family, political and religious
leaders as well as foreign dignitaries, including Britain’s Prince
Charles, American civil rights activist ,Reverend Jesse Jackson and talk
show host Oprah Winfrey.
Tribal leaders clad in animal skins joined the dignitaries in dark suits at the grave site overlooking the rolling green hills.
As pall-bearers walked toward the site
after a funeral ceremony, three helicopters whizzed past dangling the
national flag. Cannons fired a 21-gun salute and their echoes rang
over the quiet village.
Mandela’s widow, Graca Machel, dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief as she watched the proceedings.
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