Mandel stable after operation

Former South Africa President Nelson Mandela is in a stable condition after undergoing surgery, the BBC understands.

Officials said he was taken to hospital overnight for a "long-standing abdominal complaint" which needed "proper specialist medical attention".

A government spokesman said the former leader was "in good spirits and well".

The 93-year-old statesman and anti-apartheid icon has suffered declining health in recent years.

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In a statement, President Jacob Zuma's office said the "love and good wishes of all South Africans and people throughout the world" were with Mr Mandela, and asked for his family to be given privacy.

The statement did not say which hospital he had been admitted to but there are suggestions it was a military hospital in the capital, Pretoria.

'Epitome of health'

Mr Mandela had returned to Johannesburg last month from his rural home in the Eastern Cape and in January last year, he received treatment in the city's Milpark hospital for a serious chest infection.

"I can assure you that the former president is in good spirits and well," said Mac Maharaj, a spokesman for Mr Zuma.

He told the BBC that further information would be released once Mr Zuma and the Mandela family had received a full medical report from doctors, but that the 93-year-old's life was not in danger.

"This was a long-standing complaint - nothing that cropped up suddenly and needed emergency attention," said Mr Maharaj, who was in prison in Robben Island with Mr Mandela.

"But it is an issue that the doctors treating him felt needed specialist attention, and so arrangements were made accordingly."

He would not confirm reports that Mr Mandela had undergone overnight surgery for a hernia, and appealed for "co-operation from the public and the media so we manage this thing properly".

The statesman's eldest granddaughter said she was not immediately concerned about his health.

"I don't see it as a big thing. When I saw him on Wednesday, he was in good spirits, in perfect health, and the epitome of health really for a man of his age," Ndileka Mandela told the AFP news agency.

"Grandad rebounded from his illness last year. I don't see any reason why this should be any different."

A spokesman for the ruling African National Congress (ANC), also said there was "no need for panic".

It was not an emergency admission. It was planned," Keith Khosa told local media.