US First Lady Michelle Obama kicked off a trip to Africa by paying a visit to former South African President Nelson Mandela yesterday.

Obama, accompanied by her mother and two daughters, visited the 92-year-old anti-apartheid icon at his home in Johannesburg's Houghton suburb.

Pictures released by the Nelson Mandela Foundation showed a smiling Mandela sitting upright on a couch next to the US first lady and her children. He was dressed in a brightly coloured shirt - known in South Africa as a "Madiba shirt" after his clan name.

Visit not confirmed
The meeting, which included Obama's niece and nephew and other Mandela family members, lasted about 20 minutes.

Mandela has not been seen in public since he was hospitalised at the start of the year, suffering from a respiratory disease.

He visited his home village in May, the first time since he spent several days in hospital in January. Since then he has received medical care at his Houghton home. The meeting with the first lady was not confirmed until roughly an hour before it happened on Tuesday.

Picture with Barack
Mandela met President Barack Obama in Washington in 2005 when Obama was a US senator. A picture of the two men - their countries' first black presidents - is kept in Mandela's office, according to a White House aide.

Mandela retired from public life in June 2004 before his 86th birthday. Since then he has rarely appeared in public and when he did, he appeared increasingly frail.

Source: AFP