Mandela, 93, hospitalized, but in no danger, South African president says

JOHANNESBURG (AP)

Former South African President Nelson Mandela was hospitalized Saturday for a test to determine what is behind an undisclosed stomach ailment, and the country's current leader said the much beloved 93-year-old icon was in no danger.

Mandela, a Nobel peace laureate who spent 27 years in prison for fighting racist white rule, has officially retired and last appeared in public in July 2010. He became South Africa's first black president in 1994 and served one five-year term.

Mandela "has had a long-standing abdominal complaint and doctors feel it needs proper specialist medical attention," President Jacob Zuma said in a statement Saturday morning, asking that Mandela's privacy be respected.

In a follow-up statement later, Zuma added that Mandela had undergone a planned, undisclosed "diagnostic procedure."

Mandela "is fine and fully conscious and the doctors are satisfied with his condition, which they say is consistent with his age," Zuma said. "We are happy that he is not in any danger."

Zuma said Mandela was expected to be discharged from the hospital Sunday or Monday.