Apartheid fighter Desmond Tutu dead at 91

AFP – Anglican Archbishop  Desmond Tutu, a symbol of the fight against apartheid in South Africa and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, died Sunday at the age of 90, unleashing a wave of tributes to honor one of the last icons of this generation.

“The passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is another chapter of mourning for our nation as it dismisses a generation of exceptional South Africans who bequeathed us a liberated country,” said President Cyril Ramaphosa in a statement.

Ramaphosa expressed “on behalf of all South Africans” his “deep sadness after the death” of this essential figure in South African history, after the death in November of Frederik de Klerk, the country’s last white president.

“A man of extraordinary intelligence, integrity, and invincibility against the forces of apartheid, he was also tender and vulnerable in his compassion for those who had suffered oppression, injustice, and violence under apartheid, and for the oppressed and oppressors of all. the world” recalled Ramaphosa.

After the arrival of democracy in 1994, and the election of his friend Nelson Mandela as president, Desmond Tutu, who gave South Africa the nickname of “Rainbow Nation”, chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hoping it would turn the page on racial hatred.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressed his “deep sadness” over the death of Tutu on Sunday, praising his “intellectual leadership”.

Tutu was weakened by prostate cancer diagnosed in 1997 and no longer spoke in public, but he never forgot to greet the cameras present at his appearances.

With his indelible smile or with a mischievous look behind the mask, he continued to captivate the gaze, either when he went to get vaccinated with Covid-19 or when he attended a religious ceremony to celebrate his 90 years.