And so the Lion of Africa has roared his last. All around the world there is great sadness at the passing of such an icon, not only of politics but of humanity. I wrote my celebratory tribute article for china.org.cn on Nelson Mandela's 95th birthday in July; now, without any wish to detract from his personality and achievements, I will make a first attempt to establish his place in history. Mandela was a truly great man, but no saint and no harmless jolly Father Christmas figure. Africa had no greater champion of peace and reconciliation; yet he knew that the liberation of South Africa's majority black people could not be achieved without violence.

Nor did he manage to leave behind him a country at peace with itself. No one could have done more to help his country escape from the tribally-based misgovernment and corruption which bedevils so much of Africa to this day. Even a week before the historic election of 1994, Mandela had to intervene to stop a civil war breaking out between the Xhosa-led ANC and the Zulu tribalist Inkatha Freedom Party. Though South Africa has now taken its rightful place in the community of nations and the global economy, corruption, inequality and crime are still rampant in the country Mandela built. He must have grieved over this in his last illness.

What he brought, or tried to bring, to the developing world was a sense of responsibility. Mandela was certainly intelligent and wise enough to know that the establishment of majority rule would not in itself solve all South Africa's problems. But he realized that it had to be achieved, and that it could not be achieved entirely by peaceful means. The brutal suppression of non-violent protest in the form of the Sharpeville massacre of March 21, 1960 (incidentally the day I was born) showed that the time had come. And Mandela, the son of traditional African chieftains, knew that he was the only man with the necessary leadership qualities; it was not reckless bravado that was needed, but a cool head and a calm, reasoned approach. It took a very special man to retain that calm and dignity under the oppressive circumstances suffered by black South Africans; fortunately Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a very special man indeed.

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