Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president and a prominent human-rights campaigner, was taken to hospital Saturday due to a stomach ailment, according to officials.
A spokeperson for the ruling African National Congress tried to tamp down concerns about the 93-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner's health, stressing that the hospital visit was planned and was not an emergency. Mandela, who has long complained of abdominal pain, did not require surgery, the official said.
Mandela's health has declined rapidly in recent years, and he has rarely made public appearances.
The government requested that the former political prisoner turned anti-apartheid crusader be given privacy with his family.
Mandela last appeared in public two years ago, during the 2010 World Cup held in South Africa.
In his earlier life, he was jailed for 27 years for a conviction for sabotgate against the government. Upon release, he went on to become the leader of the struggle against racist apartheid rule in South Africa, culminating in his being elected president in 1994.
He served one term and left public life in 1999.
Mandela was hospitalized for several days last year for treatment for an acute respiratory infection.
With files from The Associated PressSource: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/02/25/mandela-hospitalized.html?cmp=rss
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