16 African presidents, Clinton mourn with Ghanaians

  1. Posted on Friday 10 August 2012 - 10:17
    Dolphyne
    Image of Dolphyne
    Joseph Appiah-Dolphyne, AfricaNews editor in Accra, Ghana
    Thousands of Ghanaians are as well as some 18 African heads of state and visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are attending the funeral of the late president of the West African country John Evans Atta Mills. He died last July after short illness with only five months to the end of his first term in office.
    Ghana mourns
    Accra the capital of the country is awashed with red and black cloths with people still wailing and crying. The body of the late president is currently being transferred to the independence square where the final funeral rights would be performed.

    Mills, who started a four-year term in January 2009, was succeeded by Vice-President John Dramani Mahama.

    Ghana has won international plaudits for the swift manner in which it handled the transition.

    Mills is to be buried in a bird sanctuary next to the seat of government, the 17th-century Fort Christiansborg, also known as Osu Castle, which overlooks the Atlantic Ocean.

    Tens of thousands of Ghanaians have been streaming into Accra in the past two days to pay their last respects to Mills as he lay in state.

    Some mourners queued for hours, many of them wailing with grief, in lines up to 10km (6 miles) long outside the State House in Accra.

    Seen as a bastion of democracy in an often turbulent region, Ghana was chosen by President Barack Obama for his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as president in 2009.

    Mills was a senior political figure for many years.

    Between 1997-2001 he served as vice-president to former military ruler Jerry Rawlings, but distanced himself from his former boss.

    He came to power after narrowly winning against a candidate from the then governing New Patriotic Party, Nana Akufo-Addo, in polls in December 2008.

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