(Festival Karsh Ottawa, Creative Commons)

According to Reuters:

“Amid earlier unconfirmed reports that Mandela was undergoing a hernia operation, a spokesman for the ruling Africa National Congress (ANC) went on television to tell South Africa's 50 million people there was nothing to worry about.

“Mandela has been in poor health since his hospitalisation a year ago, and has not appeared in public since. He has spent his time at his home in Johannesburg's northern suburbs and his ancestral village of Qunu in the impoverished Eastern Cape.

“As South Africa's first black president, Mandela occupies a central position in the psyche of a country that was ruled by the 10 percent white minority until the first all-race elections in 1994.”

Current President Jacob Zuma stated that Mandela “has had a long-standing abdominal complaint and doctors feel it needs proper specialist medical attention.” Mandela underwent the planned medical procedure Saturday, and is now “fine and fully conscious and the doctors are satisfied with his condition, which they say is consistent with his age.” Mandela is “not in any danger.”

It is expected that Mandela, 93, will be discharged from the hospital within the next few days.

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