Czech foreign minister to honor Mandela


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PRAGUE (AP) - The Czech prime minister caught on microphone saying he was "dreading" that he might have to go to Nelson Mandela's funeral will not be representing his country in South Africa.

Instead, Foreign Minister Jan Kohout left Monday for Johannesburg to attend Tuesday's memorial for the anti-apartheid leader, joining a mix of world leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama.

Prime Minister Jiri Rusnok was caught on Czech public television using a vulgar term when told that President Milos Zeman would not be able to go due to a knee injury. Addressing his companion by the Czech equivalent of "dude," Rusnok said: "I'm dreading that I will have to go."

The recording became widely popular in local media Saturday and on the Internet. Rusnok later apologized.

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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