NEWS: Tanzania bids former President Benjamin Mkapa farewell

Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 02:36 pm

Thousands of Tanzanians attended the funeral mass to honour the former President Benjamin Mkapa, who handed away early Friday at age 81, after struggling from malaria and a coronary heart attack.

Alongside his family, many political figures of the East African country, such as modern-day President John Magufuli.

The president of Tanzania spoke at Mkapa’s wake in the Tanzania National Main Stadium, additionally regarded as Mkapa Stadium, in capital metropolis Dar es Salaam.

Magufuli paid his respects, declaring “Benjamin’s dying is a huge loss no longer solely to his family, but additionally to other international locations in Eastern Africa, the Great Lake location and Africa in general.

” Other leaders of the continent paid hommage to the late Mkapa, such as Chadian politician and Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat, that described the late president as an “indefatigable peacemaker in the East African nation”.

“In his death, Africa has lost a giant” delivered Kenya’s historic leader of the oppositon and African Union Envoy Raila Odinga.

Third president after the us of a received its independence from the UK, Mkapa, ruled the East African u . s . for two terms from 1995 to 2005.

Before his upward push to power, Benjamin Mkapa served as Ambassador to the United States, Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education, and Minister for Information and Broadcasting, and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The chief will be rememebered through many for his mediation efforts when he took section in mediation talks, alongside Kofi Annan, after Kenya’s 2007-08 election violence. He additionally attempted, unsuccessfully, to mediate between Burundi’s authorities and opposition businesses after the disputed 2015 election plunged the country into crisis.

Benjamin Mkapa will be buried in his homeland Ndanda.

(AFP)