Breaking News:Nelson Mandela Is Dead

The revered statesman who emerged from prison after 27 years to lead South Africa out of decades of apartheid, has died, South African President Jacob Zuma announced late Thursday. Mandela was 95. "He is now resting. He is now at peace," Zuma said. "Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father."

The Former South African President Nelson Mandela died on Thursday at the age of 95.

Mandela, the first black and post apartheid President of South Africa, died in his home in Johannesburg, according to South African President Jacob Zuma, who announced the late anti-apartheid hero’s death.

Mandela was discharged from a Pretoria hospital in September after spending seven months in the lung hospital, where he was admitted for lung infection. Relatives and the South African government have consistently maintained that his condition was “stable but critical.”

In announcing Mandela’s death on Thursday night, President Zuma said in his address, “Nelson Mandela, 95, passed away at his home a short while ago. While the late President’s health had been in steady decline for a number of years, it is still difficult to come to terms with the fact that he is no longer with us.

“It is impossible to put into words the impact that Mandela has had on the world. He showed that peaceful resistance, even in the midst of the most terrible circumstances one could possibly imagine, is and should be possible. He could have been bitter and call for retaliation against his and his peoples oppressors, but he insisted on a government of inclusion and reconciliation. Somehow, some way, he succeeded in bringing his people along with him.

“The world lost a giant today. One of those few people that is bigger than life and he will be remembered for many years to come. May he rest in peace.”