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South Africa

Nelson Mandela dies aged 95

Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black President and an indelible anti-apartheid icon who spent 27 years in prison, died Thursday evening at home. He was 95. "Our nation has lost his greatest son," said South African President Jacob Zuma. "Our people have lost their father."

Nelson Mandela dies at home at age 95
Nelson Mandela dies at home at age 95
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Mandela was imprisoned for treason by a white minority, but led his country to democracy after his release in 1990.

Born in 1918, Mandela was one of 13 children from a family with close ties to the royal house of the Thembu people.

Slideshow Mandela

Even though he only seved one term as president, his peaceful resistance and triumph over racial segregation led him to become a world symbol of revolution and inspired generations of activists.

As president, Mandela forged a new nation out of the deep scars of the apartheid era and created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate apartheid crimes to help heal the country.

After five years, Mandela voluntarily handed over power in 1999 to Thabo Mbeki.

Video: South African President Jacob Zuma tells the world Mandela has died.

In his later years, Mandela was called simply as 'Madiba' - a marker of great honour and the name of his tribe - and focused his efforts on the AIDS crisis that also claimed his son's life in 2005.

He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, an honour he shared with F.W. de Klerk, the white Afrikaner leader who released him from jail.

Mandela's health weakened in recent years and he spent almost three months in a Pretoria hospital this past summer.

"I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination," said Mandela in the opening of his trial on charges of sabotage in Pretoria, South Africa on 20 April 1964.

"I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."

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