Nelson Mandela Marks 90th Birthday With Appeal for Charity

Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president, is celebrating his 90th birthday today with a private party in his home village.

Mandela is spending the day in Qunu, in south-eastern South Africa, with his family and 500 guests, while celebrations have been taking place around the world.

In his birthday message, Mandela called for the rich in Africa's biggest economy to share their wealth with the legions of poor who still struggle 14 years after the end of apartheid.

"There are many people in South Africa who are rich and who can share those riches with those not so fortunate who have not been able to conquer poverty," he said. "Poverty has gripped our people. If you are poor, you are not likely to live long."

Mandela said he wished he could have spent more time with his family during a life of fighting apartheid, including 27 years spent in jail. "But I don't regret it," he said.

The veteran anti-apartheid campaigner Desmond Tutu, a fellow Nobel peace laureate, said: "How blessed we have been. He has become the most admired statesman in the world, an icon of forgiveness and reconciliation, a moral colossus."

The South African media was awash with tributes. In a symbol of how deeply Mandela is respected, the Afrikaans-language Beeld newspaper, a former supporter of apartheid, ran a 12-page tribute to the former president.

In London, a group of around 70 people marked Mandela's birthday beneath his statue in Parliament Square in London. Eight rows of around 10 people held up coloured pieces of card, each inscribed with a personal message, to form the image of the South African flag.

A set of commemorative memorabilia has been launched to tie in with the celebrations, including a series of stamps, a five-rand coin, bangles engraved with 46664 – Mandela's prison number and the name of his HIV/Aids charity – and a collection of eight comic books depicting his life.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation announced the launch of a 240-page book on his contribution to history.

Tens of thousands of politicians, musicians, sporting heroes and ordinary admirers of Mandela - referred to affectionately in South Africa by his clan name Madiba - have posted birthday wishes on the happybirthdaymandela.com website.

"Nelson Mandela is a leader no prison cell, no intimidation, no threat could silence," wrote the prime minister, Gordon Brown.

A message from the former US president Bill Clinton, his wife, Hillary, and their daughter, Chelsea, read: "No celebration or card can be big enough to encompass all the lives you have touched. Your sacrifices, your accomplishments, and your many gifts to our world have affected those no longer with us, as well as those not yet born."

The Spanish film director Pedro Almodovar declared: "We love you in Spain Mr Mandela."

The website, which aims to raise money for Mandela's many charities, was set up ahead of the charity rock concert held in Hyde Park in London last month, which kicked off the birthday celebrations.

Other tributes in the UK include giant birthday cards available for the public to sign in Nottingham and Manchester; and parties featuring South African cuisine and dancing in Cambridge, Leicester, Leeds, Reading and Glasgow.