03:39 p.m Jun 16, 1999 Eastern

UNITED NATIONS, June 16 (Reuters) - Nelson Mandela leaves a legacy ``matched by few men in history'' and his ending of apartheid was ``a victory for all mankind,'' U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Wednesday.

``Even today, five years after the end of apartheid, no citizen of the world can remain unmoved by the magnitude and depth of your achievement,'' Annan said in a letter to the 80-year-old Mandela on the day he left office to make way for Thabo Mbeki, South Africa's second black president.

``By ending apartheid in South Africa, you won a victory for all mankind. And by creating democracy in South Africa, you made that victory a lasting one for all your people,'' Annan said.

``As you move on to the life of rest and reflection you so richly deserve, you will leave behind a legacy matched by few men in history,'' said Annan, who is from Ghana.

Using the clan name by which Mandela is affectionately known, and referring to his 27 years as a political prisoner, Annan said: ``In what can only be called 'Madiba's miracle,' you have achieved what you called, on that fateful day 35 years ago in a Pretoria courtroom, your 'cherished ideal' of 'a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.'''

Annan said the path of peace, reconciliation and equality that Mandela forged for the people of South Africa was a model for every nation and all peoples.