Angola’s former president dos Santos to be buried on Sunday

LUANDA, Angola

Angola’s former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who died in Spain last month, will be buried in his native country on Sunday, which would have been his 80th birthday, Luanda has announced.

The funeral is set for Sunday, August 28 in Luanda according to a foreign ministry note verbale to foreign diplomats in Luanda seen by AFP on Wednesday.

Dos Santos, who ruled Angola for 38 years until September 2017, died on July 8 at a hospital in Barcelona after suffering cardiac arrest.

Dos Santos’s daughter, Tchize, through her lawyers, requested a full autopsy on suspicions of foul play in the death.

A Spanish judge on August 17 ruled that the death was from natural causes, and allowed the repatriation of dos Santos’s body back to his home country.

The government and his children have been at odds over when and where he would be buried.

Tchize has insisted he had wanted to be buried in Spain, where he had lived since 2019.

But a Spanish court last week ordered the body be released to his Luanda-based widow and repatriated to Angola.

His body was returned to Luanda on Saturday evening.

Tens of people gathered at Luanda’s airport in solidarity with dos Santos’ family to welcome the coffin carrying his remains. - Africa