Amnesty to honour Mandela

DUBLIN – International human rights watchdog Amnesty International announced Tuesday it will confer its highest honour on Nelson Mandela, the long-time political prisoner who led the African National Congress to power in South Africa.

The London-based organisation said Mandela would receive the “Ambassador of Conscience” award in a November 1 ceremony in Johannesburg. It said a Nobel literature laureate, South African author Nadine Gordimer, would present the award.Seamus Heaney, the Nobel-winning Irish poet whose poem “From the Republic of Conscience” inspired the 3-year-old award, noted that Mandela most personified his own frequently quoted hope that “once in a lifetime/ the longed-for tidal wave/ of justice can rise up/ and hope and history rhyme.””To have written a line about ‘hope and history’ rhyming for Mr.Mandela in 1990 is one thing,” Heaney said in a statement.”To have the man who made them rhyme accept the award inspired by my poem is something else again.”Nampa-APIt said a Nobel literature laureate, South African author Nadine Gordimer, would present the award.Seamus Heaney, the Nobel-winning Irish poet whose poem “From the Republic of Conscience” inspired the 3-year-old award, noted that Mandela most personified his own frequently quoted hope that “once in a lifetime/ the longed-for tidal wave/ of justice can rise up/ and hope and history rhyme.””To have written a line about ‘hope and history’ rhyming for Mr.Mandela in 1990 is one thing,” Heaney said in a statement.”To have the man who made them rhyme accept the award inspired by my poem is something else again.”Nampa-AP