United Nations Radio

Nelson Mandela

The UN General Assembly has voted to designate July 18th as Nelson Mandela International Day, beginning in 2010. Dianne Penn has the story.

NARR: After two days of tributes, delegates from across the globe voted on Tuesday to make Nelson Mandela's birthday an international cause for celebration. South African ambassador Baso Sangqu stated it was his honour and privilege to introduce the General Assembly resolution.

SANGQU: During the dark days of apartheid, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela said, and I quote: "To be free is not merely to cast off one's chains but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others." And when the chains of apartheid were severed in our country, he embodied those words, showing that both the victors and the vanquished could live in peace.

NARR: The first democratically elected president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela became the symbol of the struggle against the apartheid regime which had "enshrined discrimination and called it law," said Senior Advisor at the United States Mission to the UN, Laura G. Ross.

USA: And from the sprawling townships to the city where the oceans meet and the clouds nestle on a mountaintop, to the mines dug deep to plunder the nation's gold, to the haunting veldt of the beloved country, the dream of democracy was denied. Mandela saw a great evil and dedicated himself to bringing it down.

NARR: Egypt's representative, Maged Abdelaziz pointed out that while Mandela had been given the name Nelson by a schoolteacher, the boy lived up to his birth name, Rolihlahla, which means "the troublemaker."

ABDELAZIZ: It was thus not a coincidence that Mandela joined the freedom fighters of his homeland in pursuit of justice and equality. The price was high, but his sense of purpose was much higher.

NARR: The first Nelson Mandela International Day will be observed on July 18, 2010, when the great statesman celebrates his 92nd birthday.   Next year also marks 20 years since the end of his long walk from a Robben Island prison cell to the light of freedom. On behalf of the European Union, Sweden's ambassador Anders Lidén paid tribute to Nelson Mandela's ideals of a democratic and free society in which all persons lived in harmony and with equal opportunities. He observed that these ideals continue to stand out for people who are still being denied their human rights and fundamental freedoms.

LIDEN: We hope all prisoners of conscience, wherever they are, will one day be able to enjoy the freedom which is denied to them and that was denied to Mandela for too many years.

NARR: Ambassador Anders Lidén of Sweden, speaking in the UN General Assembly which has designated July 18th as Nelson Mandela International Day. For UN Radio, I'm Dianne Penn.

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