President Obama to Meet Privately with Mandela Family

Obama continues trip in South Africa as former president Nelson Mandela remains in hospital.

美国总统奥巴马抵达南非后，慰问了南非前总统曼德拉的家人，并盛赞重病中的反种族隔离运动英雄曼德拉是历史上最伟大的人物之一。原本华盛顿将奥巴马此行的主旨定为加强美国和非洲的经贸关系，外界也广泛认为此行是奥巴马政府争夺非洲影响力之行。但在奥巴马到达非洲大陆后，各种主题在某种程度上都被纳尔逊·曼德拉的健康问题所淹没。

President Obama was landed in South Africa where he just held a news conference with the president of that country. Also today he’s meeting privately with family members of the former president Nelson Mandela. Mandela, as we all know, is in the hospital in a critical condition, and ABC’s Ryan Claiborne is in Pretoria right now. Ryan, good morning to you.

Hey, good morning to you, Dan, and as you know, as the president, President Obama had hoped, had wanted to meet with Nelson Mandela at this Pretoria Hospital behind me. That is not going to happen. The White House just a little while ago, releasing a statement, saying, and I quote, “Out of deference to Nelson Mandela’s peace and comfort and the family’s wishes, they will not be visiting the hospital.” As you said there was a press conference a short while ago, and President Obama spoke about Nelson Mandela.

The outpouring of love that we've seen in the recent days shows that the triumph of Nelson Mandela and this nation speaks to something very deep in the human spirit.

Instead of meeting with Nelson Mandela though, the president will have a private meeting with a number of family members of Nelson Mandela, the location and timing of that has not been disclosed. But the fact that this meeting had to be called off, a hopeful meeting between Obama and Nelson Mandela had to be called off, is an indication of just how sick Nelson Mandela really is, although his former wife, Wendy Mandela said yesterday that he had a great improvement, but in her words, "remains clinically unwell" and President Zuma here at that press conference saying that his condition, Mandela’s, remains critical but stable, so no doubt a great disappointment to president Obama, would hope to meet with Nelson Mandela, who he said is one of his personal heroes, he will not be meeting with him.