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Tributes as PLO Leader, Arafat, Goes Home
By Paul Ohia with agency report, 11.11.2004
World leaders paid tribute to the late Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) leader Yasser Arafat as his body commenced its final journey back to the Middle East from a French hospital where he died early yesterday. US President George Bush, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, and South African President Thabo Mbeki were among world leaders that paid tributes to the fallen Arab leader. Bush said Arafat's death is a significant moment in Palestinians' history. We express our condolences for the Palestinian people. 'We hope that the future will bring peace and the fulfilment of the aspirations for an independent democratic Palestine that is at peace with its neighbours." Obasanjo expressed his "immense sadness". He wrote in a letter to the interim president of the Palestinian Authority: "We understand very well that Yasser Arafat had become much more than a leader of your people. "He had become the living symbol and embodiment of their long and valiant struggle for their rightful place in the comity of nations." Mbeki said Arafat's life was defined by unflinching sacrifice for his cause. He had given hope to millions "by instilling in them the knowledge and consciousness that despite current difficulties, they hold the gift of freedom in their hands". But Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon spoke of a "turning point" for peace if the new Palestinian leadership rejected terrorism. Today, funeral ceremony will be held at a mosque near Cairo's international airport, from where a helicopter will then transfer the coffin to Ramallah in Gaza. Among the few non-Muslim heads of state or government expected to attend the funeral are Mbeki and Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson. Arafat's coffin, draped in the Palestinian flag, was taken by helicopter to a French military airport, where a ceremony was held. His body was then put on board a plane bound for Cairo, where his funeral will take place today. The Palestinian Authority has declared 40 days of mourning. Members of the French government attended the ceremony at Villacoublay airport, described as a semi-state occasion. As a military band played a funeral march, Arafat's coffin was carried by a guard of honour to an Airbus plane bearing the livery of the French republic. No members of the public were present at the airport. Earlier, crowds of Arafat supporters at Percy hospital, chanting, "We are all Palestinians", had waved candles and flags as Mr Arafat's body began its journey home. In the Middle East, wails of grief and volleys of gunfire from Gaza to the Palestinian refugee camps of Lebanon and Jordan marked the passing of the Palestinian leader. Israel, which saw him as a terrorist, has talked of a new chance for peace. Arafat, who dominated his people's struggle for 40 years, died aged 75 of multiple organ failure at 0330 (0230 GMT) yesterday. He had been admitted to the hospital after arriving from the West Bank on October 29 as doctors struggled to diagnose his illness. On the day of his death, hospital officials would still not give the cause of his ailment, citing strict French medical privacy law. Many world leaders have paid tribute to a man whom Russian President Vladimir Putin described as a "great political leader of international significance" while Washington merely noted that his death was "significant". Palestinian policemen guarding the compound in Ramallah, where Israel held Arafat a virtual prisoner for two-and-a-half years, could not hold back tears. Some men gripped each other's hands or hugged each other. In Gaza City, thousands of distraught people crowded the streets to express their grief, as gunmen let off volley after volley of fire. Tyres were set alight, sending up plumes of black smoke and loudspeakers relayed Koranic verses or broadcast famous quotations from Mr Arafat. Meanwhile Nigeria's Minister of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Olu Adeniji told THISDAY in Lagos yesterday that Arafat represented the symbol of the Palestinian struggle adding that his death is a setback to the Middle East peace talk which has lingered for decades. The Nigerian-Arab Association in a statement signed by its executive chairman, Dr Abdul-Lateef Adegbite, described Arafat as a hero and matyr for freedom and justice in the state of Palestine. "Arafat's life is a study in commitment, courage and steadfastness...He would be long remembered as a principled leader and one of the greatedst men of all times. Arafat's powers are being divided among his officials, with Mahmoud Abbas elected head of the PLO and Rawhi Fattuh sworn in as acting president of the Palestinian Authority. Mohammed Dahlan, the influential former Gaza security chief, said the handover showed that Palestinian leaders were "carrying on with their duties in a democratic and smooth manner". Other countries such as the United Kingdom are sending their foreign ministers. Bulldozers have been clearing a space at Arafat's compound in Ramallah for his grave. Officials said Arafat may be interred in a stone coffin so that one day his body can be moved to Jerusalem where Palestinians hope to have the capital of a future independent state.
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