Former South African President Nelson Mandela on Sunday urged Africa’s leaders to draw lessons from those who liberated the continent from colonialism, as they chart paths to lift their nations from poverty and strife. Mandela, who retired from public life last year, is visiting Kenya with his wife, Graca Machel. Machel is in the country to lead meetings on the final report on Kenya in a closely-watched African peer review process. Mandela, who led South Africa out of the apartheid era, said African leaders who guided their countries to independence offered many lessons to their successors.

“Leaders like (Ghana’s) Kwame Nkrumah encouraged us that black as we are, we could challenge colonialism. We are following in their path,” he said on arrival in Nairobi, where he was greeted by traditional songs, drumbeats and dances. “Such leaders have not perished. They are coming up in droves and inspire an entire continent,” said Mandela, who appeared frail and was often supported by an aide. He said Africans should concentrate on the positive achievements their leaders have made, and not their failings, as the continent works to solve its own problems by itself.

Kenya is among the first four countries to take part in the peer review plan being closely watched by Africans and international donors, sponsored by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). NEPAD launched the voluntary reviews by African peer countries to encourage more aid and investment into the world’s poorest continent in exchange for improved governance.

Evaluators assess governments’ records in democracy, human rights, peace and security, economic policy and business environment. On Mandela’s arrival at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the wife of Mau Mau freedom fighter Dedan Kimathi also greeted him – a meeting Mandela first sought 15 years ago. Kimathi’s fight for Kenya’s independence in the 1950s made him an icon of Africa’s struggle for freedom among Mandela’s generation of black activists.

Wangui KANINA</B>