Remembrances from South Africa & Mandela
"The freedom of his country, the liberation of other oppressed peoples and the unity and decolonisation of the African continent were part of a single struggle for a better world," Mandela said in a statement.
Mandela said he counted himself as privileged to have been among the first South African freedom fighters to have been received by Nyerere in Tanzania when the liberation struggle sought that country's help to fight the apartheid regime.
"One thinks with humility of the contribution that he made to the liberation of our continent and to freedom in South Africa.
"Even after he had stepped down from public office in his own country, we benefited from his leadership and wise counsel, in pursuit of development, peace and justice not only in our countries, our region and our continent, but throughout the world," he said.
Although the nation mourned the loss of a friend, leader and comrade in arms, there was comfort in the knowledge that Nyerere's efforts had made it possible for the people of South Africa to strive for the goals the country shared with him and his people, Mandela added.
Remembrances from Namibia
Namibia's Foreign Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab, a former guerrilla fighter who is now president of the General Assembly, announced his death to the hushed chamber, saying it was a deep personal loss.
"I, too, was a beneficiary of Mwalimu's political tutelage and of Tanzania's generosity," he said. "They provided me a free haven when I fled my own country Namibia in 1972 to escape South Africa's brutal colonialism.'
Calling Nyerere a "venerable world leader and one of Africa's most charismatic and respected elder statesmen," he said, "The Tanzanian people have lost the father of the nation, the courageous leader of their independence struggle and the architect of the United Republic of Tanzania."
"The African people as a whole have lost an ardent pan-Africanist, a man of high principles, a man of self-abnegation and the champion of Africa's self-determination, liberation and independence," Gurirab said.
"Without Dr. Nyerere's firm guidance and steadfast support, the struggle for liberation, particularly in southern Africa, would have been even more difficult and divisive within the ranks of the Organization of African Unity, the Non-Aligned Movement and other freedom-loving forces in the world," he said.
Gurirab then asked the 188-member General Assembly to stand for a minute in silent tribute to Nyerere.
Remembrances from UNICEF
UNICEF echoed the sentiment, that Nyerere's death silenced "a voice which, uninterrupted for five decades, never abandoned principle, never abandoned purpose, never abandoned vision."
While his accomplishments were formidable and touched everyone on the African continent, UNICEF said his greatest accomplishment may be that "Tanzania became a country where human life is valued and peace is treasured."
"When you recognize that so many of the surrounding nation states are riven by horrendous ethnic and tribal division, what Nyerere accomplished seems almost miraculous," UNICEF said in a statement.
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