World leaders have continued to mourned the death of former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela describing him as one of the greatest man that lived in the 20th century.

Mandela died last night aged 95. His death was announced by incumbent President Jacob Zuma, who said, ““He is now resting … he is now at peace,”…“Our nation has lost its greatest son.”

 America’s first black president Barack Obama in his message descfribed the late Mandela as a profoundly good man who took history in his hands and bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice.

Obama who met the former South African president briefly only once in 2005, but was inspired to enter politics by the anti-apartheid hero’s example paid a somber heartfelt tribute within 45 minutes of Mandela’s death being announced.

Obama said Mandela, in his journey from a “prisoner to a president,” transformed South Africa and “moved all of us. He achieved more than could be expected of any man. Today he’s gone home and we’ve lost one of the most influential, courageous and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with on this Earth.

British Prime Minister David Cameron on his part stated that a great light had gone out following Nelson Mandela’s death as flags flew at half-mast at his Downing Street Office.

“Nelson Mandela was a towering figure in our time; a legend in life and now in death — a true global hero,” said Cameron.

“Across the country he loved they will be mourning a man who was the embodiment of grace,” he added.

“Meeting him was one of the great honours of my life. My heart goes out to his family — and to all in South Africa and around the world whose lives were changed through his courage.

Former US president Bill Clinton, who was in office when Nelson Mandela took power in South Africa stated that he is mourning the death of a “champion for human dignity and freedom”.

“Today the world has lost one of its most important leaders and one of its finest human beings,” Clinton said in a statement.

“History will remember Nelson Mandela as a champion for human dignity and freedom, for peace and reconciliation,” he added.
     
South Africa’s archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu lauded his compatriot and fellow Nobel peace laureate Nelson Mandela  as the man who taught a deeply divided nation how to come together.

“Over the past 24 years Madiba taught us how to come together and to believe in ourselves and each other. He was a unifier from the moment he walked out of prison,” Tutu said marking Mandela’s passing.
       
UN leader Ban Ki-moon on yesterday, hailed Nelson Mandela as a “giant for justice” who had also left his mark with a profound sense of human decency.

“Many around the world were influenced by his selfless struggle for human dignity, equality and freedom. He touched our lives in deeply personal ways,” Ban told reporters in tribute to Mandela.

“Nelson Mandela was a giant for justice and a down-to-earth human inspiration,” the UN secretary general added.

Minutes after the announcement of his death, the UN Security Council held a moment of silence in Mandela’s memory.

Ban met the South African anti-apartheid hero in February 2009, and said he had been particularly struck by Mandela’s “selflessness and deep sense of shared purpose.”

Ban said that he had repeatedly praised Mandela for his work in ending South Africa’s brutal system of dividing races.

Mandela was equally insistent in saying “there are hundreds and hundreds of known, unknown people, who have contributed to the ending of apartheid,” Ban said of the encounter.