The release of black leader Nelson Mandela was hailed as a critical step toward racial reform in South Africa and brought elated cheers worldwide from governments, civil rights leaders and others who oppose apartheid.
The eyes of the world Sunday were on Cape Town, South Africa -- from Atlanta, where Martin Luther King Jr.'s wife watched, to Nairobi, Kenya, where African leaders praised the release of the world's most famous political prisoner.
''I am overjoyed by the release of Nelson Mandela, who has so courageously shown us the tremendous power of unearned suffering for a just cause,'' said Coretta Scott King, wife of the slain civil rights leader.
''I sincerely hope that the government and the anti-apartheid movement will continue to embrace the nonviolent spirit in their negotiations as they seek a multi-racial democracy based on one person, one vote,'' she said.
Mandela left the Victor Verster prison farm Sunday after more than 27 years in imprisonment, becoming a free man and resuming his role as leader of the country's anti-apartheid movement.
Secretary-general of the Organization of African Unity, Salim Ahmed Salim of Tanzania, issued a statement expressing joy at the release of Mandela and the other racial reforms President Frederik de Klerk announced Feb. 2.
''While rejoicing at these developments, the OAU wishes to stress the importance of recalling that the reasons for which Nelson Mandela was imprisoned remain unchanged,'' Salim said. ''All the pillars of apartheid ... remain firmly in place.''
In Lusaka, Zambia, exiled leaders of the African National Congress said Mandela's release was ''good news,'' but that de Klerk's reforms are ''ambiguous.''
''We only hope de Klerk does more since the ball is in his court,'' ANC National Executive Committee member Joe Slovo said on returning from consultations in Stockholm, Sweden, with ANC President Oliver Tambo.
Mandela's release was symbolic for blacks in the American South, many of whom for decades fought their own civil rights movement and continue to fight racism in many forms as it surfaces.
''Mr. Mandela has emerged as a symbol, not just in South Africa, but in the rest of the world,'' said Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who represents the majority black 5th Congressional District in Atlanta. ''I think the forces that are supporting him will prevail.''
The Rev. Joseph Lowery, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference founded by Martin Luther King Jr., stopped the service at his Cascade United Methodist Church in Atlanta to offer a prayer of thanksgiving the moment Mandela was released.
''It is a tremendous, spiritual lift to all people who are struggling for liberation and justice in the world,'' Lowery said.
"Mandela is free, but black Africa still groans under the yoke of apartheid,'' said Sen. Alan Cranston, D-Calif. ''The United States should keep up the pressure of sanctions -- which undoubtedly have worked well -- until the last vestige of apartheid is eradicated."
In celebration of Mandela's release, 2,000 people danced, sang and hugged in London's Trafalgar Square outside the South African Embassy, where anti-apartheid demonstrators have kept a vigil for 1,395 days.
In Jerusalem, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said, ''Israel believes that the release of Mr. Mandela will be another important step on the way to increased understanding between the sides in that country.''
Messages of congratulation poured in to Mandela from political leaders around the globe.
Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak told him, ''The decision to release you is a victory for human rights everywhere.''
Polish Solidarity union leader Lech Walesa asked Mandela to ''kindly receive my words of admiration for your unyielding attitude and congratulations on your regaining of freedom, unlawfully denied you for many years.
''You are an example of a man sacrificing his life for the implementation of the idea of equality of all men before law,'' Walesa said in a cable.
Mandela's 35-year-old daughter, Maki, a graduate student in Massachusetts, said she was glad that her father had been released and that she hopes to visit him soon, but that she had no immediate plans to do so.
''At that moment (when he was released), I really felt like I could fly to South Africa, you know, to Paarl, and be with him and embrace him and say we're behind you 100 percent,'' she said.
