= Nelson Mandela as the "world's a father figure tackling global problems Mandela is long and varied. In some disputes, like Burundi's long-running conflict, he was a mediator. On other intractable issues, like the stigma of HIV, he was the campaigner and bereaved father who tried to address. But even his critics would concede that he became a figure with unequalled status on the global stage.transformation from prisoner of conscience and iconic human rights leader to practical political leader who became in every single way the father of modern South Africa and then transformed again into elder statesman," Simon Marks Mandela had the capacity to operate as an honest broker in situations where others might not have been able to, says Christopher Alden of the London School of Economics.The unique feature of Mandela is that he was someone whose moral stature was truly worldwide, says Alden - a reflection of the globalised nature of the anti-apartheid struggle by the 1980s.Maybe, except we don't yet know how the political story will turn out. She has this amazing moral authority because of her experience as a prisoner of conscience but now playing an active political role and there are a lot of things putting her in a tough position. Gandhi, Mandela and SuuKyi were all political prisoners and this personal sacrifice is an important part of the role. It remains to be seen whether an organization of senior statesmen and women will be able to do what an individual like this has," says Alden. "It is a one-in-a-generation person. It may work but it's a novel experiment."Humankind needs this kind of person. Without them, the possibility of descending into brutish conflict we are capable.