President Uhuru mourns South Africa’s anti-apartheid icon Tutu

Nairobi, Kenya | Xinhua | Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Sunday joined fellow world leaders in mourning South Africa’s anti-apartheid hero and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu who died on Sunday at the age of 90.

Kenyatta in a message of condolence to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the People of the Republic of South Africa, and the family of the departed Nobel Laureate, mourned the ever-smiling Tutu as an African icon of freedom, peace and reconciliation.

“The passing away of Archbishop Desmond Tutu is a big blow not only to the Republic of South Africa where he leaves behind huge footprints as an anti-apartheid hero but to the entire African continent where he is deeply respected and celebrated as a peacemaker,” Kenyatta said in his condolence message.

Tutu who was born in 1931 was a long-serving Anglican Church cleric and anti-apartheid campaigner who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 and was later appointed to chair his country’s post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Kenyatta said through his distinguished work over the years as a cleric, freedom fighter and peacemaker, Tutu inspired a generation of African leaders who embraced his non-violent approaches in the liberation struggle.

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Xinhua