Nelson Mandela, South Africa?s first Black president and an enduring icon of the struggle against racial oppression, died Thursday December 5, 2013 at the age of 95.

Mandela spent 27 years in prison after being convicted of treason by South Africa’s white minority government, only to forge a peaceful end to White rule by negotiating with his captors after his release in 1990.

He led the African National Congress, long a banned liberation movement, to a resounding electoral victory in 1994, the first fully democratic election in the country?s history.

Mr. Mandela served just one term as South Africa?s president and had not been seen in public since 2010, when the nation hosted the soccer World Cup. But his decades in prison and his insistence on forgiveness over vengeance made him a potent symbol of the struggle to end this country?s brutally codified system of racial domination, and of the power of peaceful resolution in even the most intractable conflicts.

The South African government issued an official announcement of Mandela’s passing, as current President Jacob Zuma appeared in a televised address late Thursday night. Mr. Mandela died at 8:50 p.m. South African local time and?Zuma referred to Mandela?s death as ?the moment of our deepest sorrow?

 

VIDEO: Peacemaker Nelson Mandela dead at 95, Jacob Zuma confirms

Read full transcript of Zuma’s announcement HERE

Years after Mandela retreated from public life, his name still resonated as an emblem of his effort to transcend decades of racial division and create what South Africans called a Rainbow Nation.

?His commitment to transfer power and reconcile with those who jailed him set an example that all humanity should aspire to,? a grim President Obama said Thursday evening, describing Mr. Mandela as an ?influential, courageous and profoundly good? man who inspired millions ? including himself ? to a spirit of reconciliation.

 

VIDEO: President Obama Addresses Nation Re: Mandela’s Death

Read the full transcript of Obama?s speech?here.

Both Mandela and Obama both served as the first black leaders of their nations, and both men won the Nobel Peace Prize. But Obama has often shied away from comparisons, often noting that his own sacrifices would never compare to the ones that Mandela endured.

In his speech, Obama noted that the world would ?not likely see the likes of Nelson Mandela again,? and he states that the former South African president had once said that he was ?not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.?

 

 

VIDEO: Obama Humbled By Visit to Mandela’s Robben Island Jail Cell

While there was no announcement of the specific cause of Mandela?s death, reports are that he had been battling pneumonia and other lung ailments for the past six months, and had been in and out of the hospital.

It was close to midnight in South African when Mandela’s death was announced, but a small crowd quickly gathered outside the house where he once lived in Soweto, on Vilekazi Street.

?Nelson Mandela, there is no one like you,? they sang, stamping their feet in unison to a praise song usually sung in joy. But in the midnight darkness, sadness tinged the melody.

?He was our father, our mother, our everything,? said Numfundo Matli, 28, a housekeeper who joined the impromptu celebration of Mr. Mandela?s life. ?What will we do without him??

Nelson Mandela’s death comes during a period of deep unease and painful self-examination for South Africa.

R.I.P. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (July 18, 1918 – December 5, 2013)