PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD: Former South African President Nelson Mandela arrived here last last night on a Caribbean mission mainly inspired by football but steeped in general significance. Over the next three days Mandela will be dinned by officials in both Trinidad and Grenada, and hailed by the masses at public functions in Ports of Spain Friday and Grenada Sunday. But in- between those will be the football diplomacy that is the inspiration of his latest visit to the Caribbean. Mandela, the awe-inspiring freedom fighter who battled his country's apartheid system and won, will address a conference of CONCACAF in Grenada on the weekend in a campaign to gain international football support for his country's bid to host the 2010 World Cup. An avid sportsman, Mandela was a boxer before he became a freedom fighter and follows closely cricket, rugby and football. The legend's plane touched down at the Piarco International Airport last night where he was greeted by Prime Minister Patrick Manning and CONCACAF President Austin Jack Warner. His arrival delayed by over six hours threw the original schedule into chaos, with the big welcome and the street motorcade planned having to be cancelled. Hundreds were still at the airport last night, but many did not get a glimpse of their hero after he was whisked away to rest for the night ahead of a hectic schedule Friday. He is joined on the trip by Bishop Desmond Tutu, a fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Tutu arrived earlier at 5:30 PM. Mandela pays a courtesy call on Prime Minister Manning Friday morning before attending a brief rally in the city. Tonight he is also to attend a fund-raising dinner. Bishop Tutu is the chief celebrant at a midday mass at the Anglican Church in Port of Spain. The archbishop leaves Trinidad this afternoon for a whirlwind visit to New York where he is set to meet with Un Secretary General Kofi Annan. It was not immediately clear if Tutu was going to return for the weekend visit to Grenada, where officials are expecting both he and Mandela to address a Sunday morning rally. In St. George's controversial trade unionist Chester Humphrey said Grenadian Prime Minister Keith Mitchell should apologize to Mandela when he arrives there on Saturday afternoon. Humphrey, also a Senator, said an apology was in order because a New National Party government in 1987 was only one of five countries to have voted against imposing further sanctions against the then apartheid South Africa. While Mitchell as a member of the government then, it was headed by the late Herbert Blaize and Ben Jones, another Prime Minister, was the Foreign Minister. "I hope Keith Mitchell will be man enough to apologize as the leader of a predominantly black country for its failing to support Mandela in his hour of need," Humphrey told CARIBUPDATE Thursday. But callers to radio stations in Grenada have generally decried what they see as an attempt by Humphrey, a constant government critic, to inject controversy into the visit of the African leader. At the same breath Humphrey has invited Grenadians to participate in the state-sponsored rally on Sunday morning. "The coming of Nelson Mandela is a fitting tribute to the contribution that Grenada made to the demise of apartheid," he said. "One will recall under the People's Revolutionary Government and the revolution, the PRG facilitated members of the ANC by giving them Grenada passports to travel throughout the world in order to heighten the struggle against apartheid," he said. SOURCE: CARIBUPDATE.COM