Guinea Bissau bids farewell to president Sanha
African Update – 19/01/12
Thousands of people, including two African heads of state, bid farewell Sunday to Guinea Bissau president Malam Bacai Sanha at a state funeral in the capital Bissau.
"We are meeting in sad and tragic circumstances, a moment of pain and consternation. The Republic of Guinea Bissau is crying for its president," said interim head of state Raimundo Pereira."The people... have been deprived of a liberator who brought stability to our democracy," said Pereira, who is also the head of the National Assembly.The mourning ceremonies began in the main National Assembly hall where Sanha's body was taken after its arrival from Paris. Sanha died in the French capital on January 9 at the age of 64 after a long illness and was buried later Sunday accompanied by a 21-gun salute. Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and his Cape Verde counterpart Jorge Carlos Fonseca were among politicians present at the funeral, which was also attended by prime ministers of Niger, Guinea and Sao Tome and Principe. Thousands of people, many dressed in the Muslim mourning colour of white, also gathered outside the National Assembly building, chanting religious verses and occasionally crying "Allah Akbar."Sanha was elected in 2009 after the assassination of his predecessor Joao Bernardo Vieira, landing him at the head of the west African state with a history of coups, army mutinies and political murders. However just six months after his election he was hospitalised in Dakar and then in Paris.
Source: www.africasia.com
