JOHANNESBURG: Nelson Mandela, the 94-year-old former South African president and Nobel Peace laureate hospitalised with a lung infection, has successfully undergone a procedure to have gallstones removed, the government said on Saturday.

“The former president underwent a procedure via endoscopy to have gallstones removed. The procedure was successful and Madiba is recovering,” President Jacob Zuma's office said in a statement, using Mandela's clan name.

South Africa's first black president, who came to power in historic all-race elections in 1994 after decades struggling against apartheid, remains a symbol of resistance to racism and injustice at home and around the world.—Reuters