Mandela to have quiet 86th birthday

Former South African president Nelson Mandela turns 86 on Sunday and plans to spend a quiet day with close family members at his ancestral home in Qunu in Eastern Cape province.

This is in stark contrast to his birthday bash thrown last yearin South Africa's busiest business center Sandton, with many famous foreign guests including former United States president Bill Clinton and his wife.

The change of pace is exactly what Mandela has been seeking since his announcement on June 1 that he was scaling back his hectic schedule and aiming for a quieter lifestyle.

However, this "second retirement" -- he stepped down as South Africa's first democratically-elected president in 1999 -- has not removed him from the public eye entirely.

In the past week alone, he has traveled to Bangkok, Thailand, to attend an international AIDS conference, where he called for increased efforts to fight tuberculosis, saying the world had made the fight against AIDS a priority, but ignored TB.

The former president himself was diagnosed and cured of TB during his 27 years in prison under the apartheid regime.

It is now 16 years since his release, and this weekend South Africa's best-known statesman will have only his children and grand children demanding his attention as he celebrates the start of his 87th year.

Source: Xinhua