6/22/2008

in

Former South African President to attend a concert in honor of his 90th birthday.

Shari Myles

Former South African President Nelson Mandela is in London to celebrate his upcoming 90th birthday, reported the Associated Press. Mandela turns 90 on July 18.  
  
Mandela is scheduled to attend an outdoor concert in his honor in Hyde Park on Friday.  
  
Some of Friday's performers include Queen, Annie Lennox, Leona Lewis, The Sugabees, Eminem and Amy Winehouse.  
  
Proceeds from the concert will go to the 46664 fund, the AIDS charity named for the number Mandela wore while imprisoned by South Africa's apartheid authorities.  
  
Mandela is also scheduled to meet prominent officials and supporters, including British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, former U.S. President Bill Clinton and talk show host Oprah Winfrey.  
  
As reported by the Canadian Press, Friday's concert coincides with the 20th anniversary of London's Free Mandela concert, held to demand he be freed from prison.  
  
He was released in 1990 after 27 years of incarceration, and was elected South Africa's first black president in 1994. Mandela was also a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.