Fund Raiser Puts Mandela Back In Cell

Hillary Rodham Clinton, Bill Cosby and U.N. chief Kofi Annan all stopped by Thursday to visit with President Nelson Mandela.

“I am sure you are going to get tired of me,” the former political prisoner told journalists at the first of a series of appearances with his guests.

In the afternoon he flew by helicopter to the former Robben Island prison, where he showed the first lady, her daughter Chelsea and Cosby the cell in which he spent 18 of his 27 years in jail.

The president later posed for photographs in his cell with each of 40 couples who paid $56,000 each to attend a fund-raising banquet. Mandela and Cosby organized the event to raise money for destitute former political prisoners and to help set up a museum on Robben Island.

These are hectic times for Mandela, who earlier this month spent 10 days in Asia and held talks to try to end the Zairian civil war.

Princess Diana stopped by Monday and U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata is scheduled to call on him early next week. Also next week, Mandela will travel to Bangladesh and India.

Mandela was jovial and warm at the separate media appearances with each guest Thursday, wearing one of his trademark flowing African shirts and smiling often, though still moving stiffly from knee problems.

He introduced Annan as a “genius” and Cosby as a “legend,” then pretended to be offended when Cosby mistook his age for 63.

“I want my old age to be respected, even by legends,” said the 78-year-old leader.

While touring Robben Island, Mandela told stories from his prison years, saying he had been served porridge in various forms for breakfast, lunch and dinner for more than a decade.

But times have changed. Mandela later sat down to a meal that included salmon tartar, baby chicken stuffed with wild rice and pistachio nuts and three different kinds of sorbet.