WASHINGTON, March 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday expressed "deep concern" about Nelson Mandela's health, wishing the former South African president "very best" after he was hospitalized again.
"Obviously we're all deeply concerned with Nelson Mandela's health," the president told reporters at the White House after meeting with Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma, President Macky Sall of Senegal, President Joyce Banda of Malawi and Prime Minister Jose Maria Pereira Neves of Cape Verde.
"He's a hero I think to all of us. I'm sure that I speak for the other leaders here," Obama said. "And we will be keeping him in our thoughts and prayers, and his entire family."
Mandela, 94, was admitted to hospital overnight due to a new lung infection. He was last treated for lung infection and gallstones on Dec. 8, 2012.
"He is as strong physically as he's been in character and in leadership over so many decades, and hopefully he will come out of this latest challenge," Obama said.
"When you think of a single individual that embodies the kind of leadership qualities that I think we all aspire to, the first name that comes up is Nelson Mandela, and so we wish him all the very best," the president added.
Mandela served as South African president from 1994 to 1999. He had spent 27 years in prison before being elected the country's first black president after the end of apartheid.
Strong wind, thunder hit Liuzhou City in S. China's Guangxi
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