On Sunday, Angolans and foreign dignitaries gathered for the funeral of long-serving ex-leader José Eduardo dos Santos, who died in Spain in July but whose burial was postponed due to a family request for an autopsy.
The burial for Dos Santos, who died on July 8 at a clinic in Barcelona at the age of 79, is taking place just days after an election appeared to have returned his MPLA party to power in results that the country’s major opposition alliance has challenged.
Dos Santos and his family dominated Angolan politics for 38 years, until 2017. His once Marxist People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), which has been in power for nearly five decades, appears to have won Wednesday’s poll.
Heads of state and top ministers from across the continent were expected to attend, as was the president of Angola’s erstwhile colonial master Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
The presence of foreign VIPs has allowed authorities to try to prevent protests over the disputed preliminary results.
“Due to the state funeral of the late former president José Eduardo dos Santos, the national police appeals to all citizens, civil society, and organized groups that intend to organize activities on Saturday and Sunday to contain themselves out of respect for the former head of state,” Angola’s National Police said in a statement published on Saturday by the Lusa news agency.
The electoral commission has granted the MPLA and President Joao Lourenço a 51% majority with 97% of the ballots counted, with the main opposition, the National Union for Total Independence of Angola, or UNITA, lagging with 44.5%.
