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Saturday, Jun 29, 2013 7:31 AM UTC

Obama paying tribute to Mandela in S Africa

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Obama paying tribute to Mandela in S AfricaU.S. President Barack Obama, middle, and first lady Michelle Obama, right, react as Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, left, gestures during their arrival at Waterkloof Airbase in Pretoria, Friday, June 28, 2013. President Obama is receiving the embrace you might expect for a long-lost son on his return to his father's home continent, even as he has yet to leave a lasting policy legacy for Africa on the scale of his two predecessors. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe) (Credit: AP)

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — President Barack Obama is meeting with South Africa’s leader at the start of a weekend visit that will pay tribute to the legacy of critically ill former President Nelson Mandela.

As Obama harkens back to Mandela’s leadership against apartheid, he’ll also be trying to engage Africa’s future by addressing some of the youth who make up such a large segment of the population on the continent.

Obama is making his first visit as president to South Africa, a leading African partner in U.S. trade and the fight against AIDS. His events Saturday are scheduled to begin with a bilateral meeting and news conference with President Jacob Zuma at the Union Buildings, where Mandela was inaugurated as the country’s first black president in 1994 after 27 years behind bars under racist rule.

Obama has called Mandela a “personal hero” and said the imprisoned activist’s willingness to risk his life for the cause of equal rights helped inspire his own political activism. Obama said his message during the visit will draw on the lessons of Mandela’s life, with a message that “Africa’s rise will continue” if its people are unified instead of divided by tribe, race or religion.

“I think the main message we’ll want to deliver if not directly to him but to his family is simply a profound gratitude for his leadership all these years and that the thoughts and prayers of the American people are with him and his family and his country,” Obama said on his flight into the country.

Obama will be only about a 10-minute drive from the Pretoria hospital where 94-year-old Mandela lies in critical condition, but the president indicated he’s not angling for a visit but instead is grateful that he, his wife and daughters had a chance to meet him previously. Obama hangs his photo of the introduction he had to Mandela in 2005 in his personal office at the White House — their only meeting, when Obama was a senator.

“I don’t need a photo op,” Obama said. “The last thing I want to do is to be in any way obtrusive at a time when the family is concerned about Nelson Mandela’s condition.”

Obama also is paying tribute to the fight against apartheid by visiting Soweto township Saturday afternoon for a town hall with students at the University of Johannesburg. At least 176 young people were killed there 27 years ago this month during a youth protest against the apartheid regime’s ban against teaching local Bantu languages. The Soweto Uprising catalyzed international support against apartheid, and June is now recognized as Youth Month in South Africa.

The university plans to bestow an honorary law degree on the U.S. president, while protesters are planning demonstrations against U.S. policy on issues including the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the war in Afghanistan and global warming. Hundreds marched to the U.S. Embassy on Friday, carrying signs that read: “No, You Can’t Obama,” a message inspired by Obama’s “yes, we can” campaign slogan.

Obama, the son of an African man, has been trying to inspire the continent’s youth to become civically active and part of a new democratically minded generation. Obama hosted young leaders from more than 40 African countries at the White House in 2010 and challenged them to bring change to their countries by standing up for freedom, openness and peaceful disagreement.

Obama wraps up his South Africa stay Sunday, when he plans to give a sweeping speech on U.S.-Africa policy at the University of Cape Town and take his family to Robben Island to tour the prison where Mandela spent 18 years.

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Follow Nedra Pickler on Twitter at https://twitter.com/nedrapickler

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