Brussels, 6 December 2013/ ACP: Secretary General, H.E Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni led the ACP Secretariat in remembering iconic world leader and former South African President Nelson Mandela, who passed away last night at age 95.

About a hundred colleagues gathered at the ACP House to hear a tribute to the renowned and much-loved statesman, and to observe a minute of silence in his honour.

“The world woke today to the sad news of the passing of this great man, and we at the ACP Secretariat cannot just receive the news and treat it in the normal way, and then business will just go on as usual. We thought it was such a momentous period that we need to mark it at least by our token of love of respect,” Mr Mumuni told staff.

The Secretary General recalled Mandela’s revolutionary activism, which led to his 27 year imprisonment, after which he “came back and completed the emancipation of his people, by defeating apartheid”, and becoming President of South Africa in 1994.

He has since remained an influential figure promoting peace and compassion in Africa and the world.

Mr Mumuni said: “[Nelson Madela] was just not a revolutionary fighter, but he lived and died for social justice, not only for South Africa, but for mankind.”

– ACP Press