September 19, (THEWILL) – Algeria on Sunday buried former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the North African country’s longest-serving leader, at a cemetery for its Independence heroes, but without the honours accorded to his predecessors.
Bouteflika died on Friday aged 84.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, senior officials, and foreign diplomats attended the funeral in the capital Algiers.
He was buried in the El-Alia cemetery, east of Algiers, where his predecessors and leaders of the Algerian revolution against the French colonial rule were buried.
On Saturday, Algeria announced three days of national mourning for Bouteflika’s death.
The Algerian judiciary allowed his brother Said Bouteflika to attend the funeral and pay the last respects.
Said has been in jail since May 2019 on corruption charges.
Having come to power in 1999 following the country’s civil war, Bouteflika ruled Algeria despite suffering from paralysis in 2015 amid his deteriorating health.
He ran for president for a fifth term in February 2019, triggering mass demonstrations in the country.
With the Algerian army announcing support for the growing protests, Bouteflika was forced to resign in April 2019.
The veteran strongman lived as a recluse after quitting office.
His muted funeral, with no lying-in-state and just three days of national mourning instead of eight, reflected a mixed legacy that left many Algerians indifferent to the ceremony.
Bouteflika, who served as foreign minister in the mid-1960s, swept to the presidency in 1999 on a wave of popular support as his amnesty offer to Islamist militants helped bring an end to a decade-long civil war.
On Sunday at his funeral, the Minister for Algeria’s Independence fighters, Laid Rebiga, read an eulogy.
An armoured vehicle towed his flag-draped coffin on a gun carriage adorned with flowers and escorted by lines of police on motorcycles, in the ceremony, guarded by blue and black-uniformed security officers.
The procession travelled from Bouteflika’s nursing home to the cemetery east of downtown Algiers, as bystanders filmed it with their mobile phones.
Only journalists from Algerian national public media were given access to the ceremony which was not broadcast live, in contrast to the fanfare of previous presidential deaths.
The People’s Palace, where other presidents lay in state, appeared to have been prepared to display his remains before the interment, but this was cancelled.
“This burial is a non-event,” said Islam, a 45-year-old postal worker. “Algerians seem to have forgotten Bouteflika, or at least turned the page on his rule.”
