曼德拉“世紀葬禮”在即 南非當局壓力大

據英國《衛報》報道，南非已故前總統納爾遜·曼德拉的“世紀葬禮”在即，據英國《衛報》12月8日報道，這次規模空前的葬禮也給南非當局帶來了巨大的後勤和安保壓力。爲此，南非政府呼籲民衆儘量參加當地的紀念活動，避免蜂擁參加國葬。

8日，在約翰內斯堡Nasrec會展中心出現了混亂場面。幾百名等待報道曼德拉葬禮的記者在此排隊領取通行證。有時候，一臺打印機出現故障就得讓記者們等上2到4個小時。外面停車場混亂不堪，不同語言的叫罵聲此起彼伏，有時還會有一兩個南非當地媒體記者插隊，用當地語言跟官員對話。

會展中心一名焦頭爛額的官員此事也按耐不住脾氣，他說：“我們有4年時間準備世界盃，但只有幾個月準備曼德拉葬禮。我不會告訴你我們已經做了多少，也不會告訴你還有多少需要做。也許你願意幫我們做這些？”

世界多國政要均將出席曼德拉葬禮。美國總統奧巴馬預計本週抵達南非，13位非洲國家首腦也已確認出席15日的葬禮。

此外，美國三位前總統吉米·卡特、比爾·克林頓、喬治·布什均將攜夫人蔘加曼德拉葬禮，同行的還有26名美國國會議員。出席的名單還包括聯合國祕書長潘基文和其前任科菲·安南將出席，法國總統弗朗索瓦·奧朗德和其2012年大選競爭對手、前法國總統尼古拉·薩科齊，巴西總統迪爾瑪·羅塞夫與4名前巴西國家元首。

10日的曼德拉紀念儀式在9.5萬個席位的約翰內斯堡大型露天足球場舉行，南非當局已警告，前來參加該儀式的觀衆可能被拒之門外。同時，南非政府承諾將在指定悼念地點設立至少90個巨型電視屏，遍佈南非各省。

南非主要城市和古努周圍的道路已經封鎖，古努是曼德拉的家鄉，也是此次葬禮的舉辦地。曼德拉粉紅色住宅方圓幾英里外的道路也已封鎖。

在國葬儀式結束後，曼德拉遺體將在軍隊護送下運往古努下葬。據稱，比起葬禮來曼德拉的墓碑將十分簡樸，曼德拉要求在碑上只刻上“曼德拉”。

The South African government has urged people to attend local rather than national services of commemoration for Nelson Mandela as the sheer scale of the logistics involved in planning the extraordinary week ahead began to bring signs of stress.

An unprecedented number of foreign journalists and foreign dignitaries have arrived in the country along with tourists to witness what will be a historic event.

There were disgruntled scenes on Sunday at Johannesburg's Nasrec Expo centre, where several hundred of the estimated 2,500 to 3,000 national and international journalists covering the death of the former president arrived to collect passes that would grant them access to key events of the week.

A broken printer meant waiting for two to four hours for the all-important yellow photographic credentials. The vast car park was a bedlam of swearing in many languages, with one or two journalists from local media skipping the queue by appealing to officials in Xhosa and Afrikaans.

"This is African time, little angry one," said a Johannesburg radio reporter from Jacaranda FM, pushing past a Japanese television producer.

Tempers were fraying. "We have 10 people waiting here who should be out there working," said Trust Dube, of the Dimension television company. Jan Muller, with a German film crew, said: "This is terrible because we need to be other places. Very stressful."

A harried official at the centre, who was not happy to be named, said: "We had four years to prepare for the World Cup but only months to prepare to lose Madiba. No, I cannot tell you how many we have processed and I cannot tell you how many are still to be processed. Perhaps you would like to do this?"

An enterprising ice cream seller was soon on the scene.

There were tensions between media outlets at some church events as cameras could barely film without getting another camera in the shot. Many of Johannesburg's 165 hotels were full, although no room rate hikes have been reported.

Marie Marguerite, 54, from Ohio in the US, was arriving at the Hilton with five friends after a 14-hour flight. "We have followed Nelson Mandela's story all our lives and our church supports his children's fund, so we came. It's a moment of history and we wanted to join with our president in showing that everyone loved Madiba."

President Barack Obama is expected to enter South Africa this week, along with VIPs in their hundreds. Thirteen heads of African states have confirmed attendance at Sunday's funeral.

Former US presidents attending include Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and George W Bush, plus their wives and 26 congressmen. Ban Ki Moon and Kofi Annan are on the list. Francois Hollande, the French president, is coming, bringing the 2012 election rival, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Dilma Rousseff, the president of Brazil, will be accompanied by four former heads of state, including Lula da Silva.

Representations from the UN, the European commission and the African Union are also growing in number along with celebrities and musicians including Richard Branson and Peter Gabriel.

Plans were drawn up a year ago for the event, but the numbers appear to have shaken even the best-laid plans.

The government warned that people who wished to attend the memorial service on Tuesday in the 95,000-seat FNB football stadium in Johannesburg could face being turned away, even at the overflow venues. The message arrived along with promises that at least 90 giant screens would be set up at "official mourning sites" in all of South Africa's provinces.

A statement released by Pretoria stated: "People must accept that at some stage this capacity will be filled and police and other authorities will turn people away. Government is doing all it can to allow as many people as possible to be part of these official events, but there are limits to how many people we can reasonably accommodate."

Roads have been closed around the country's main cities and at Qunu, Mandela's Eastern Cape home town, where the burial will take place. Roads there have been closed for several miles around Mandela's pink-walled house, causing consternation to the huge media contingent with its camper vans, satellite dishes, tents and big vehicles.

South African Airways is organising extra internal flights to East London airport in the Eastern Cape, and temporary extra infrastructure. But Mthatha airport, the closest to Qunu, has been set aside for heads of state, with its airspace closing to all other traffic from Friday, grounding many of the helicopters hired by news outlets. VIPs will be driven by luxury coach to the graveside.

Noxolo Kiviet, premier of the Eastern Cape, said the electricity, banking and retail sectors were ready for the influx, but there was little accommodation. She asked residents to help.

"I appeal to Eastern Cape citizens to open their homes and accommodate visitors to our province."

That request may have been heeded already. Thinus Ferreira, a South African blogger, claimed that Qunu residents were charging reporters 10 rand (about 60p) to use their long drop, or earth ditch, toilets. Meanwhile security was tightened in Qunu and there is a heavy military and police presence.

On Sunday line and kerb painters were out in force around Soccer City in Johannesburg, and potholes were being filled on routes in Pretoria along which Mandela's coffin will pass from Wednesday to Friday, when it is driven to lie in state in the Union Buildings each day and returned to the mortuary each night.

When Mandela reaches his final resting place on Sunday, it is believed his gravestone will convey a simplicity his funeral cannot. He asked for it to be inscribed with just the word Mandela.