Angola begins public tributes to bid farewell to former president Dos Santos

Aug. 27 (EUROPA PRESS) –

A funeral procession marked the start this Saturday of public farewell events in Angola for former president José Eduardo dos Santos, who died on July 8 at a clinic in Barcelona.

The mortal remains of the late president have walked with military honors through the streets of the capital, Luanda, before being installed in the Plaza de la República. The funeral chapel will remain open until Sunday, when the funeral will be held, Angop news agency reports.

More than twenty foreign leaders will attend the funeral, including the president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who has recognized the role of Dos Santos in the construction of modern Angola.

The funeral will take place on the same day that the former president would have turned 80. Dos Santos ruled the African country for 38 years, until 2017, and was succeeded by Joao Lourenço, who precisely this week revalidated his mandate in an election.

The death of Dos Santos in Barcelona unleashed a judicial dispute between his life, which demanded the transfer of the remains to Angola, and the children, who requested investigations to determine if a homicide could have been committed.