ARCHBISHOP Desmond Tutu, who described Trinidad and Tobago as a rainbow country similar to his own beloved South Africa, has died. News of his death came on Sunday. He was 90.
Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning icon, and former South African president the late Nelson Mandela visited TT in May 2004 to lobby support for South Africa's bid to host the 2010 World Cup.
Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne said, "He was a good friend of TT, having described our country positively to the world as the true rainbow nation after visiting our shores. Trinbagonians from all walks of life will remember him fondly and with enduring admiration."
Browne described Tutu as a shining light of humanity for decades and a central figure alongside Mandela in the fight against apartheid in South Africa.
"My generation grew up in an era in which Desmond Tutu dominated world headlines, and we were inspired by his journey from being a schoolteacher, to becoming the very first black Archbishop of Cape Town, to serving as a global diplomat and advocate for peace, human rights, truth, and justice."
Beyond the role Tutu played in abolishing apartheid in South Africa, Browne remembered him as a humble, iconic figure who was a global diplomat for peace, human rights, truth and justice.
"Archbishop Tutu stood out as a voice of reason when he stood against the Gulf War and on numerous other occasions when he embodied the conscience of the world."
In extending condolences to Tutu's family and the South African people, Browne said Tutu lived a life of meaning and purpose "that must provide example, hope and inspiration for the future.'
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, in a statement, said Tutu's "extraordinary life is testament to the fact that the greatest weapons against injustice and evil are truth, forgiveness, and a heart filled with love."
Even after apartheid ended in the early 1990s, Persad-Bissessar recalled Tutu continued to be a beacon of hope to the South African people as he led that country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
She said this helped to heal South Africa by confronting the hideous crimes committed against its people under the apartheid regime.
"He fought to ensure the evil ideology of racial segregation must never be allowed to ever happen again."
While the world collectively mourns his death, Persad-Bissessar said, "Let us also celebrate the ideals and principles for which he fought; equality, peace, truth, and justice."
Anglican Bishop The Right Rev Claude Berkley said Tutu's death was "a tremendous loss to the Anglican community in general, and the Anglican Church in South Africa in particular."
He described Tutu as a "bastion of institutional knowledge and experience of the church's mission and ministry especially in terms of social justice, truth and reconciliation and theological reflection."
Tutu, Berkley continued, was a contemporary and great friend of Bishop Clive Abdulah, the first local bishop of the Anglican Church in TT.
"He was a man of great
