London overnight in support of his global AIDS campaign
A star-studded cast of artists have celebrated Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday with a giant concert in London overnight in support of his global AIDS campaign.
Amy Winehouse and Annie Lennox were among the musicians performing at the Hyde Park gig for the former South African president's 46664 campaign, which was being broadcast around the world.
Following an opening performance from Jivan Gasparyan, an Armenian duduk wooden flute master, US actor Will Smith introduced British rockers Razorlight.
Queen and Paul Rodgers also rocked the audience before a finale of "Free Nelson Mandela" featuring Winehouse and the song's writer, Specials keyboard player Jerry Dammers, plus all the artists.
"I'm here to see Nelson Mandela," 45-year-old Ben Motsumi said - a nurse from Klerksdorp in South Africa who came to the concert with his wife and children.
"He's a hero to me. I've got all pictures of him in my house," he said.
"I've been in Britain for nine years. This is an incredible occasion for us.
"If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be here."
Mr Mandela made headlines on Wednesday by breaking his silence over the electoral violence in Zimbabwe, describing it as a "tragic failure of leadership".
Other performers on the concert bill included Simple Minds, Josh Groban, Joan Baez, Leona Lewis, the Sugababes, Eddy Grant, Jamelia, Zucchero and the Sudanese "war child" rapper Emmanuel Jal.
A 46664 spokesman said Mr Mandela attended the Hyde Park gig to thank the British people for a concert at London's Wembley Stadium in 1988, which called for his release from jail.
Precisely 46,664 tickets - after Mandela's prison number during his 27-year incarceration for trying to topple South Africa's apartheid regime - went on sale for the three-and-a-half-hour concert.
Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton and British actor Stephen Fry were among the celebrities introducing the artists.
Mr Mandela, who retired from public life nine years ago, is expected to retreat further from the limelight after his birthday celebrations and hand over the reins of his 46664 campaign.
The African liberation hero, who turns 90 on July 18, is now in frail health.
"The world remains beset by so much human suffering, poverty and deprivation," Mr Mandela said at a fundraising dinner during the week.
"It is in your hands to make of our world a better one for all, especially the poor, vulnerable and marginalised."
The bash, attended by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, former US president Bill Clinton, poverty activist Bob Geldof, film stars and performers from Friday's concert, raised $10.4 million dollars.
The 46664 campaign, which has seen four previous multi-artist concerts, aims to raise awareness of the HIV/AIDS epidemic which is rife in sub-Saharan Africa.
South Africa is one of the countries worst-hit by HIV, with 5.41 million people living with the illness.
Mr Mandela lost a son to AIDS in January 2005 and has made fighting the pandemic his main cause।
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