Algeria's former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika laid to rest after sombre ceremony

Government officials and foreign diplomats pay their respects to the leader

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  Police members stand outside El Alia cemetery, where late former Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika will be buried, in Algiers, Algeria. REUTERS

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  Algerian bystanders take pictures of the funerary motorcade of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika as it advances to the El-Alia cemetery in the capital Algiers. AFP

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  Algerian security forces accompany the coffin of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to the El-Alia cemetery in the capital Algiers. AFP

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  A convoy transporting the coffin of late former Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika heads towards El Alia cemetery, where he will be buried, in Algiers, Algeria. REUTERS

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  Algerian security forces accompany the coffin of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to the El Alia cemetery in Algiers, Algeria, 19 September 2021. Former President of Algeria Abdelaziz Bouteflika died at the age of 84. EPA

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  Algerian bystanders take pictures of the funerary motorcade of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika as it advances to the El Alia cemetery in the capital Algiers. AFP

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  Algerian bystanders take pictures of the funerary motorcade of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika upon arrival at the El Alia cemetery in the capital Algiers. AFP

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  Algerians place roses on the tomb of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika during his funeral at the El Alia cemetery in the capital Algiers. AFP

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  Algerians place roses on the tomb of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika during his funeral at the El Alia cemetery in the capital Algiers . AFP

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  An Algerian woman cries at the time of the passage of the coffin of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to the El Alia cemetery in the capital Algiers, Algeria, 19 September 2021. Former President of Algeria Abdelaziz Bouteflika died at the age of 84. EPA

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  Algerian security forces stand guard as people wait for the arrival of the funerary motorcade of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to the El Alia cemetery in the capital Algiers. AFP

Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Algeria’s longest-serving president, was laid to rest on Sunday at a cemetery for the country’s independence heroes.

Laid Rebiga, Algeria’s minister for independence fighters, read a eulogy at the service for Bouteflika, who died on Friday, aged 84.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, government officials and foreign diplomats were also at the ceremony.

The funeral procession travelled from Bouteflika’s home to the cemetery east of the capital, Algiers, and bystanders filmed it with their mobile phones.

An armoured vehicle towed the flag-draped coffin on a gun carriage adorned with flowers and escorted by lines of police on motorcycles, AFP news agency reported.

Bouteflika’s career took him from being from the world’s youngest foreign minister to one of its oldest presidents.

He was Algeria’s first foreign minister after it gained independence from France in 1962.

Known for wearing his trademark three-piece suit even in the stifling heat, Bouteflika earned respect in the 1970s and was credited with helping to foster peace after the end of the country’s civil war.

He became president of Algeria in 1999 on a wave of popular support. He presided over initial economic growth and a rebuilding of the country, although high unemployment and shrinking opportunities mired his later years in power.

Bouteflika had a stroke in 2013, won re-election in 2014 and resigned in 2019, when his bid for a fifth term as president sparked protests on the streets. He largely stayed out of the public eye after leaving office.