Thousands pay respects to Senegal's founding father

Five African heads of state and thousands of mourners paid their last respects to Senegal’s founding president, Leopold Sedar Senghor, who was buried today.

Senghor, a leading African statesman and poet who led Senegal to independence in 1960 and ruled the country for 20 years, died on December 20 at his home in France at the age of 95.

‘‘There are some losses which can never be consoled. But the gestures of sympathy we’ve received from around the world strengthen us,’’ President Abdoulaye Wade said in a speech. ‘‘It shows he left something behind, a contribution to civilization.’’

Senghor’s coffin, draped in the national flag, was laid to rest at a Catholic cemetery in the West African nation’s capital, Dakar next to his only son, Philippe Maguillen Senghor, who died in a 1981 car wreck.

The ceremonies, broadcast live on local TV and radio stations, were attended by five African heads of state including Equatorial Guinea’s Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Mauritania’s Maaouya Sid’Ahmed Ould Taya, Mali’s Alpha Oumar Konare, Niger’s Tandja Mamadou and Cape Verde’s Pedro Pires.

France was represented by Cooperation Minister Charles Josselin and Raymond Founi, president of the French National Assembly.

Senghor’s body arrived on Thursday from north-western France, where the statesman had lived for most of the last 20 years since he stepped down from the presidency voluntarily in 1980.

Flags in Senegal have been flying at half-staff since December 21, when Wade declared the beginning of an official 15-day mourning period.