JOHANNESBURG, Dec 31 (AFP) - South African Nobel Peace Prize winner, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, on Wednesday said much had changed in his country 10 years after apartheid ended, calling it "a beacon of hope for lands reeling from hatred and conflict."

In a New Year's message, published in the Johannesburg-based Sowetan newspaper, Tutu said however that political violence, which characterised the run-up to the first democratic elections in 1994, had been replaced by criminal violence.

"Here we are nearly 10 years down the line and we have been blessed with extraordinary stability and calm."

"Remarkably, South Africa is now considered a beacon of hope for lands reeling from hatred and conflict," he wrote.

Tutu praised former South African President Nelson Mandela, as well as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), set up under his chairmanship to probe apartheid crimes.

"We boast the world's most revered statesperson -- Madiba (Mandela's clan name). We have amazed the world with our TRC process," he said.

"We overcame the awfulness of apartheid. We can, we will, overcome the awfulness of HIV/AIDS, of poverty, of corruption, of crime and the abuse of women and children," he said.

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