Mandela, Tutu arrive in Trinidad

2004-05-05 14:29

Port of Spain - South Africa's two Nobel Peace laureates, former President Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, arrived in Trinidad on Thursday to lobby for their nation's bid to host the World Cup Soccer championships in 2010.

A military band and white dress-uniformed troops honored Mandela when he arrived late at night to warm greetings from Prime Minister Patrick Manning and regional soccer chief and Fifa vice-president Jack Warner.

"I'm exhilarated at the manner in which President Mandela was received by the government," Warner said. He had invited Mandela and Tutu on a visit to his Caribbean nation that prompted controversy as government leaders and soccer officials jockeyed over the dignitaries' schedule.

On Thursday night, officials said they were redrawing that schedule, in part because of Mandela's late arrival, caused by the private jet's delayed stopover in Brazil.

A visit to a provincial home for children living with the HIV virus and Aids was canceled. Instead, the youngsters were to come to Port of Spain, Trinidad's capital, for a children's rally on Friday.

Mandela has a foundation that helps some of South Africa's 1 million Aids orphans. Africa and the Caribbean suffer the highest Aids infection and mortality rates in the world.

Archbishop Tutu arrived earlier on Thursday on a scheduled flight from London, and was to celebrate Mass on Friday at the Anglican Holy Trinity Cathedral. Then he travels to New York City.

Accompanied by former sports minister Ngconde Balfour, the visitors are lobbying the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football to host the 2010 World Cup.

Fifa has promised the venue to Africa, which has never hosted the event and was angered when Germany beat South Africa for the 2006 tournament by one vote after a last-minute abstention by New Zealand.

South Africa is competing against Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Libya.

On his first visit to Trinidad, Mandela flies Saturday to the twin island of Tobago for a children's rally before flying to Grenada for a meeting of regional soccer officials.

The seasoned statesman put South Africa back in the sports spotlight after it was excluded from international sporting events during apartheid, when Mandela was jailed for 27 years. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for promoting racial reconciliation before becoming South Africa's first black president in 1994.

"He's a living legend," Manning said earlier. "What President Mandela has been able to do... without any bitterness to anyone, is a lesson for all."

- AP