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AU Joins South Africa in Mourning Death of Anti-apartheid Hero Desmond Tutu

ADDIS ABABA – The Chairperson of African Union Commission Moussaka Fak Mahamat has joined South Africans in mourning the passing of the anti-apartheid hero Desmond Tutu.

Archbishop Tutu, the Nobel Peace prize laureate who helped end apartheid in South Africa, died on Sunday morning at the age of 90.



“The African Union joins the people and government of #SouthAfrica in mourning the passing of Anti-Apartheid icon, Archbishop Desmond Tutu,” tweeted Mahamat on Sunday afternoon.

“A man of faith convinced in the power of reconciliation through restorative justice, the Arch was a true shepherd of peace,” he said. “May he rest in peace.”

Tutu was one of the driving forces behind the movement to end the policy of racial segregation and discrimination enforced by the white minority government against the black majority in South Africa from 1948 until 1991.

He was awarded the Nobel prize in 1984 for his role in the struggle to abolish the apartheid system

Tutu’s death comes just weeks after that of South Africa’s last apartheid-era president, FW de Klerk, who died at the age of 85.

 

Featured image caption: Archbishop Tutu was a contemporary of anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela (r) [Photo BBC/Getty Image]