S. Africa plans Mandela memorial

South Africa's government announced the plans on Saturday, which are to tie in with a series of events to remember the anti-apartheid icon.

Mandela's body is to lie in state from Wednesday until Friday at the Union Buildings in the nation's capital Pretoria ahead of his burial later this month. During those days his remains will be carried through the city to allow millions of mourners a chance to say a final farewell, the government said.

"Every morning, when the remains leave the mortuary to the lying in state, those routes will be made public," said Neo Momodu, the head of the government's information service.

Memorial events are to begin on Sunday, which has been declared a national day of prayer and reflection. South Africans have been invited to go to churches, mosques, synagogues and other places of worship to pay their respects.

A national memorial service is then scheduled to be held on Tuesday in the 90,000-plus capacity sports stadium in Soweto that hosted the final of the 2010 World Cup, where Mandela made his last public appearance.

US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle have indicated they will travel to South Africa alongside the former first couple George W. and Laura Bush to attend the event. Former US President Bill Clinton, who was in office when Mandela was elected South Africa's first black president, will also be present.

The state funeral and burial for the Nobel Peace Prize laureate is to be held in his boyhood home of Qunu in the Eastern Cape Province on December 15. It is also expected to draw an unprecedented gathering of world leaders and luminaries. State airline South African Airways has said it will charter special flights to carry the invited dignitaries to the funeral.

Mourners pay tribute

Meanwhile, large crowds gathered outside Mandela's home in Johannesburg for a third day on Thursday. At least 100 people expressed their grief by singing national songs, waving South African flags, lighting candles, laying flowers and dancing.

Mourners have also gathered at his former home in Soweto since news of his death broke on Thursday.

Heads of state from around the world have also expressed their condolences, heralding Mandela's legacy.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Mandela made "a new, better South Africa." His "shining example and his political legacy of non-violence and the condemnation of all forms of racism will continue to inspire people around the world for many years to come," she said.

Obama said Mandela "took history in his hands and bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice."

"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," he said.

Obama ordered US flags at the White House and other public buildings to be flown at half-mast until Monday in honor of Mandela, a rare gesture for a foreign figure.

Anti-apartheid hero

Mandela was once labeled a terrorist by the United States and Britain for his support of violent resistance to South Africa's apartheid government. He spent 27 years in prison, much of it on Robben Island, after being convicted of capital offences at the infamous Rivonia Trial.

He became South Africa's first black president four years after his release in 1990. He retired in 1999.

Mandela shared the 1993 Nobel Peace Price with former President Frederik Willem de Klerk; the foundation gave the duo the prize "for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa."

After leaving office Mandela became a leading figure in South Africa's fight against AIDS. He lost his son to the disease in 2005.

In June, Mandela was hospitalized with a recurring lung infection. At the time, officials had described his condition as serious but stable.

ccp/ph (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)