Obama 'humbled' by visit to Mandela's former cell
US president pays tribute to Robben Island inmates who 'refused to yield'
President Barack Obama said he was "deeply humbled" by a visit to the cell where Nelson Mandela spent years as a prisoner, in a solemn homage Sunday to the critically ill hero he was unable to see in Pretoria.
The US leader paid tribute to Mandela and other anti-apartheid inmates of Robben Island, who "refused to yield" in the face of racist white minority rule.
Obama, accompanied by his wife Michelle and young daughters Sasha and Malia, visited the bleak lime quarry where 34 anti-apartheid leaders — including Mandela — endured hours of backbreaking work.
He stood alone, looking out the barred window of the small cell where Mandela spent two-thirds of his 27 years in prison, the darkest days of his detention.
After touring the sandy wind-swept island, Obama took a few minutes to write a note in the visitors book.
"On behalf of our family we're deeply humbled to stand where men of such courage faced down injustice and refused to yield," he wrote.
Current South African President Jacob Zuma was also held at the notorious jail off Cape Town's coast under the apartheid regime, which ended in 1994 with Mandela's election victory.