The ex-president of Congo-Brazzaville, Pascal Lissouba, received on Monday a last tribute in France where he died in exile a week ago, as well as in his country of origin from his supporters.
Dozens of people accompanied the family of the former Congolese president (1992-97) during the mass in the cathedral of Perpignan, in this region of the south of France where Mr. Lissouba died at the age of 88 years .
Read also: Congo: ex-President Pascal Lissouba died in France
The Congo Ambassador to France attended the religious ceremony in memory of the opponent of the regime of current President Denis Sassou Nguesso.
Behind a few policemen, Congolese from the diaspora welcomed the coffin covered with the flag in the colors of the Congo (green, yellow, red) by raising their fists and singing.
Pascal Lissouba was the first president of Congo elected in a pluralist ballot in 1992.
In 1997, he left power after a civil war against the forces of current President Denis Sassou Nguesso, who was also his predecessor.
The country had then plunged into violence during the electoral campaign, with on the one hand the militias of Mr. Lissouba and those of its Prime Minister Bernard Kolélas, and, on the other, the "
Cobras
" of Mr. Sassou Nguesso.
Result: between 4000 and 10,000 dead after several months of fighting.
A tribute ceremony in Brazzaville
Sentenced in absentia in his country for war crimes, high treason and for "
having sold off Congolese oil
", Mr. Lissouba was finally amnestied in 2009. In Brazzaville, a tribute ceremony was held at the UPADS headquarters , the party of Mr. Lissouba, noted an AFP correspondent.
The government was not represented at this ceremony marked by a good two-hour mass.
Government spokesman Thierry Moungalla greeted "
a statesman
" upon the announcement of his death.
"
We are pleasantly honored by all these marks of attention from Congolese from all sides who have come individually,
" said a senator from this party, Joseph Yédikissa Dadhié.
A next presidential election is to be held in early March 2021 in Congo-Brazzaville.
76-year-old President Sassou Nguesso was invested last December as a candidate for the ruling Congolese Labor Party (PCT).
He has accumulated 35 years of power since 1979, interrupted by the Lissouba parenthesis of 1992-97.