Mali holds state funeral for former dictator Moussa Traoré

20.09.2020
Mali holds state funeral for former dictator Moussa Traoré - Похоронный портал


Mali holds state funeral for former dictator Moussa Traoré - YouTube


The former dictator and president of Mali, Moussa Traoré, who led the country for 22 years, was buried on September 18, 2020 in Bamako. © FRANCE 24 screengrab


Text by:NEWS WIRES |Video by:FRANCE 24


Mali held a state funeral for ex-dictator Moussa Traore on Friday, attended by the head of the ruling military junta and other former leaders of the Sahel state, according to AFP journalists.

Traoré, who ruled Mali for 22 years before being deposed in a 1991 coup, died at age 83 in the capital Bamako on September 15.

The former autocrat was buried at a Bamako military camp on Friday, where a funeral band played at the arrival of his coffin, which was draped in the Malian flag.

Soldiers dressed in full regalia stood at attention, according to AFP journalists, while two planes performed a flypast overhead.

As a young lieutenant in 1968, Traoré was the main instigator of a coup that overthrew Modibo Keita, the country's first president after independence from France in 1960.

Traoré became president the following year and ruled with an iron fist, before he himself was ousted in a military coup in 1991.

In recent years, the ex-dictator was increasingly seen as an elder statesman in the notoriously unstable country, with politicians soliciting his advice.

In attendance on Friday was the head of Mali's ruling military junta Colonel Assimi Goita, part of a group of young officers who launched a coup ousting president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on August 18.

Former President Amadou Toumani Touré - who deposed Traore in the 1991 coup - was also among the mourners, alongside other ex-leaders.

Russian diplomats attended the ceremony on Friday, according to AFP journalists, but no French or European Union diplomats were present.

(AFP)


                                                                                                                        France 24 - International breaking news, top stories and headlines

Делясь ссылкой на статьи и новости Похоронного Портала в соц. сетях, вы помогаете другим узнать нечто новое.
18+
Яндекс.Метрика