S. Africa’s ex-leader Nelson Mandela back in hospital with lung infection

PanARMENIAN.Net - Former South African President Nelson Mandela has been admitted to hospital with a recurrence of a lung infection, the government said on Thursday, March 28 renewing concerns about the health of the revered anti-apartheid leader, Reuters said.

A statement said the 94-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate went into hospital shortly before midnight on Wednesday. It gave no further details other than to say he was receiving the "best possible expert medical treatment and comfort".

Mandela, who became South Africa's first black president in 1994, has been mostly absent from the political scene for the past decade, but remains an enduring and beloved symbol of the struggle against racism.

He is renowned at home and abroad for spending 27 years in prison fighting the last bastion of white rule in Africa and then promoting the cause of racial reconciliation.

Mandela has been frail and in poor health for several years.

He was admitted briefly to hospital earlier this month for a check-up and spent nearly three weeks in hospital in December with a lung infection and after surgery to remove gallstones.