Angola bids solemn farewell to former president dos Santos
- State funeral takes place in the capital Luanda, with Angolans and various African leaders in attendance
- Dos Santos, who led Angola from 1979 to 2017, will be remembered as a ‘statesman and devoted pan-Africanist’, former Namibian leader Sam Nujoma says
Angolans and world leaders gathered on Sunday for the state funeral of former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos, whose nearly four-decade rule of the oil-rich nation was marred by allegations of plunder and nepotism.
The memorial service was held at the historic palm tree lined Praca da Republica in the seaside capital Luanda on what would have been dos Santos’s 80th birthday.
It comes days after his party, the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) – which has ruled the country for nearly half a century – saw its worst results at the polls in the most hotly contested elections since independence.
Dos Santos – who died last month following a cardiac arrest – will be remembered as a “statesman and devoted pan-Africanist”, former Namibian president Sam Nujoma, 93, told the hundreds of mourners in attendance.
A choir sang dirges while flags flew at half-mast around the square, which houses an imposing concrete mausoleum where the country’s founding president Agostinho Neto is interred.
Dignitaries including South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi and Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa filled rows of white and gold seats.
Josiane dos Santos, the late leader’s daughter, sobbed while recalling her father’s love for music.