Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister Peter O'Neill on Friday praised late former South African President Nelson Mandela, saying people of PNG are mourning Mandela's death, Australian media reported.
"The Government and People of Papua New Guinea join with me in mourning the passing of the most influential and inspirational statesman of our time," O'Neill said.
O'Neill said it was Mandela's forgiveness of the apartheid government that kept South Africa together.
"It was his absolute forgiveness of the apartheid government that imprisoned him ... that laid the foundations for the transition from decades of undemocratic apartheid rule to a robust democracy in a very short period of time," O'Neill said.
"It will continue as strong as ever even after his passing, when we remember the struggles he endured and his fellow freedom fighters endured, just to gain the freedom and democracy we all too often take for granted."
