Mandela funeral to bring together world's most powerful people
Political and cultural elite set to attend funeral where Mandela's spirit of reconciliation may offer backdrop to unusual meetings | World leaders are preparing to converge in unprecedented numbers on South Africa for Nelson Mandela's funeral, likely to be one of the biggest global gatherings of powerful people in modern history. As South Africa embarked on nine days of mourning, comparisons were being drawn with earlier mammoth funeral ceremonies, of Pope John Paul II, Princess Diana, President John F Kennedy and Winston Churchill. But Mandela's appeal was even broader, cutting across religious divides and the usual geopolitical barriers between north and south, east and west. Barack Obama will fly in, with his wife Michelle, as well as former US presidents. Britain is expected to send senior royals, presumably Prince Charles, and possibly Prince William as well as the prime minister, David Cameron. They are likely to mix in the funeral cortege with leaders from across the globe, including from China, Iran, Cuba, Israel and the Palestinian territories. It is not clear how Syria will be represented, or whether Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir, charged with genocide by the international criminal court, will attend.
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