He went on to be elected the organisation's president and received a knighthood in Britain's New Year's honours for his contribution to ending the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the former head of the Anglican church in South Africa, paid tribute to the friend he had known for more than 50 years, saying he was greatly saddened by the death of a person who had been a great inspiration to him. "He was one of those white people who enabled us not to feel embittered, so we could look at him and say - not all white people are the same," he said.

In a statement, Mandela praised the archbishop, "Father Huddleston was a pillar of wisdom, humility and sacrifice tothe legions of freedom fighters in the darkest moments of the struggle against apartheid," he said.

"At a time when identifying with the cause of equality for all South Africans was seen as the height of betrayal by the privileged, Father Huddleston embraced the downtrodden. On behalf of the people of South Africa and anti-apartheid campaigners across the world, I convey my deepest condolences to his Church, his friends and his colleagues," Mandela said.

The new leader of the Anglican Church in Southern Africa, Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of Cape Town, expressed sorrow at Huddleston's death at 84, and praised him for "his courage and his refusal to give in to the forces of evil which engulfed the country and region."

Tutu said, "Huddleston was just an incredible person and the world is a much better place for there having been a Trevor Huddleston. He made sure that apartheid got on to the world agenda and stayed there. If anybody single-handedly made apartheid a world issue then that person wasTrevor Huddleston."