Nelson Mandela marked his 89th birthday by announcing the make-up of an international group of elder statesmen to tackle the world's problems.
Mr Mandela said the group of elders would use almost 1,000 years of collective experience to dream up solutions for seemingly insurmountable problems like climate change, HIV/AIDS and poverty.
The group consists of former President Mary Robinson, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, former US President Jimmy Carter and Nobel peace winner Desmond Tutu.
Mr Mandela said they would use their political independence to help resolve some of the world's most intractable conflicts.
UK entrepreneur Richard Branson and singer Peter Gabriel came up with idea of launching a brain trust of world leaders seven years ago.
They asked Mr Mandela, who has officially retired from public life and will not play a major role, to launch the group and select its members.
Mr Carter said governments had frequently failed to tackle the world's big issues and conflicts because they were beholden to voters, inhibited by their own political agenda and beset with domestic problems.
This group, he added, will be able to risk failure and will not need to claim credit for any success.
