Desmond Tutu: Obama joins tributes to South Africa anti-apartheid hero
Former US President Barack Obama has joined the tributes being paid to Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who has died aged 90.
Mr Obama described the churchman as "a mentor, friend and moral compass".
Advertisement
A contemporary of Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Tutu was one of the driving forces behind the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said he had helped bequeath "a liberated South Africa".
One of the country's best known figures at home and abroad, Archbishop Tutu was awarded the Nobel prize in 1984 for his role in the struggle to abolish the apartheid system enforced by the white minority government against the black majority in South Africa from 1948 until 1991.
Tutu's death comes just weeks after that of South Africa's last apartheid-era president, FW de Klerk, who died at the age of 85.
Church officials in South Africa say a week of tributes is being organised. The plans include two days of lying in state to allow the public to pay their respects as well as a requiem mass, local media report.
Mr Obama said: "Archbishop Tutu was grounded in the struggle for liberation and justice in his own country, but also concerned with injustice everywhere."
"He never lost his impish sense of humour and willingness to find humanity in his adversaries, and Michelle and I will miss him dearly."
President Ramaphosa said he was "an iconic spiritual leader, anti-apartheid activist and global human rights campaigner".
He described him as "a patriot without equal; a leader of principle and pragmatism who gave meaning to the biblical insight that faith without works is dead".
"A man of extraordinary intellect, 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 oppressed and downtrodden people around the world."
In a message of condolence, Queen Elizabeth II said she remembered with fondness her meetings with him, and his great warmth and humour.
"Archbishop Tutu's loss will be felt by the people of South Africa and by so many people in Great Britain, Northern Ireland and across the Commonwealth, where he was held in such high affection and esteem."
The Nelson Mandela Foundation was among those paying tributes, saying Tutu's "contributions to struggles against injustice, locally and globally, are matched only by the depth of his thinking about the making of liberatory futures for human societies".
"He was an extraordinary human being. A thinker. A leader. A shepherd."
The Vatican said in a statement that Pope Francis offered "heartfelt condolences to his family and loved ones".
"Mindful of his service to the gospel through the promotion of racial equality and reconciliation in his native South Africa, his holiness commends his soul to the loving mercy of almighty God."
