Select a Feature Election Guide Country Profile Video Reports Message Board Readers' Poll Recent News News Search Main Page

RELATED VIDEO Watch inauguration day festivities, with CNN's Charlayne Hunter-Gault (June 16) Windows Media 28K 80K IMAGE GALLERY View images from inauguration day

June 16, 1999
Web posted at: 6:07 p.m. EDT (2207 GMT)

In this story: 'A day of salute' Mbeki vows to fight poverty RELATED STORIES, SITES

PRETORIA, South Africa (CNN) -- Nelson Mandela, who led South Africa from apartheid to democracy, stepped down from public office Wednesday as Thabo Mbeki, his hand-picked successor, was sworn in as president.

Mandela retired as South Africa's first black leader at a multimillion-dollar ceremony full of pomp and pageantry, and witnessed by world presidents and royalty.

Among the 4,500 guests were Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and at least three African kings.

It was a bittersweet event that ended five years of a historic presidency that saw Mandela lead his country peacefully through what could have been a tumultuous transition.

Instead of pursuing revenge for his 27 years of imprisonment for opposing the all-white rule of apartheid, he preached reconciliation.

Aides said Mandela's wife, Graca Machel, had arranged to take him to a secret holiday retreat for two weeks.

'A day of salute'

Mbeki, an economist who turns 57 on Friday, was elected president by South Africa's parliament on Monday, after his African National Congress secured a thumping 66.4 percent victory in the country's second democratic elections on June 2.

As Mbeki took the oath of office, he held up Mandela's hand in tribute.

"This day is as much a day for the inauguration of the new government as it is a day of salute for a generation that pulled our country out of the abyss and placed it on the pedestal of hope on which it rests today," Mbeki told the crowd.

Mbeki's inauguration marked the first transfer of power in South Africa between two democratically elected presidents.

Mbeki vows to fight poverty

He takes over a country plagued by crime and a racially biased distribution of wealth. More than 40 percent of the blacks in South Africa are unemployed. Ten million South Africans live in shacks on land that don't own or rent.

"No night can be restful when millions have no jobs, and some are forced to beg, to rob and to murder to ensure that they and their own do not perish from hunger," Mbeki said.

Mandela, who turns 81 on July 18, will leave the public spotlight that followed him during his years in prison and subsequent political life.

In April 1994, Mandela led the African National Congress to a victory in South Africa's first all-race elections. He was inaugurated as president the following month.

Correspondent Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.