CHAIRMAN: DR. KHALID BIN THANI AL THANI
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: DR. KHALID MUBARAK AL-SHAFI

World / Africa

Mandela grandson says he will join Gaza aid boat

Published: 05 Sep 2025 - 09:43 pm | Last Updated: 05 Sep 2025 - 10:03 pm
A boat carrying Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and activists, part of a civilian flotilla aiming at breaking the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, leaves the port of Barcelona, on August 31, 2025. (Photo by Lluis GENE / AFP)

A boat carrying Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and activists, part of a civilian flotilla aiming at breaking the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, leaves the port of Barcelona, on August 31, 2025. (Photo by Lluis GENE / AFP)

AFP

Tunis: A grandson of South Africa's anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela said Friday he would join pro-Palestinian activists seeking to break Israel's naval blockade of Gaza with an aid boat from Tunisia.

"We particularly chose, as the South African delegation, to join the Global Sumud Flotilla here in Tunisia from an African point to say: Africa is part of this struggle," Mandla Mandela told journalists in Tunis.

"As Africans, we know very well what it means to live under occupation, under oppression," he said.

The Maghreb Sumud Flotilla will set sail on Sunday, organisers say, aiming to join other Gaza-bound boats that have already left from Spain and Italy.

Initially scheduled for last Thursday, it was postponed due to bad weather, and organisers have yet to confirm the place and time of departure.

Organisers have said about 100 activists have registered to join the flotilla from Tunis.