Rais Kikwete Katika Mazishi ya Rais John Atta Mills wa Ghana

Shughuli mbalimbali za mazishi za aliyekuwa Rais wa Ghana Profesa John Evans Atta Mills katika uwanja wa Independence Square jijini Accra leo Agosti 10, 2012

Rais Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete akiwa na viongozi wenzie baada ya shughuli ya mazishi ya Rais John Evans Atta Mills wa Ghana jijini Accra leo Agosti 10, 2012

Rais Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete akisaini kitabu cha maombolezo wakati shughuli ya mazishi ya Rais John Evans Atta Mills wa Ghana katika ukumbi wa Mikutano wa Ghana jijini Accra leo Agosti 10, 2012.

Rais Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete akitoa heshima kwa aliyekuwa Rais wa Ghana Marehemu Profesa John Evans Atta Mills katika ukumbi wa Mikutano wa Ghana jijini Accra leo Agosti 10, 2012.

Picha na Ikulu

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Kutoka CNN.com

Accra, Ghana (CNN) -- Thousands of mourners gathered Friday in the West African nation of Ghana to ay their respects to the late President John Atta Mills, as his funeral was held in the capital, Accra.

Mills died last month at age 68, prompting outpourings of grief from many Ghanaians.

Ghanaians from all walks of life, many dressed in the traditional black and red of mourning, thronged Independence Square in Accra to witness the ceremony, in a show of national unity.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was among the many foreign dignitaries who traveled to Ghana for the funeral.

Ghana in mourning after president dies Ghana's Deputy Minister of Information Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa said 67 foreign delegations were represented from all over the world.

More than 15 heads of state, including almost all the West African leaders, attended the ceremony, which ended with the release of 100 doves into the air.

After the ceremony, the casket was laid to rest near Osu Castle, the seat of government where Mills had lived and worked since he became president.

The late president's body was laid out for public viewing Wednesday and Thursday. Some of the visiting heads of state took turns to file past the body Friday morning.

Giant screens were set up around the country for those who could not travel to Accra to watch the ceremony.

One Ghanaian mourner at the funeral said he prayed for the sense of unity that has followed Mills' death to continue.

"I'm confident we will have an even more peaceful election this December because most Ghanaians I have spoken to say they enjoy the atmosphere and will urge the politicians to keep it that way", he said.

Mills died suddenly at a military hospital a few hours after becoming ill, his Chief of Staff John Henry Martey Newman said in a statement at the time. The president had denied rumors about his health for months before his death.

John Dramani Mahama, formerly Ghana's vice president, was sworn in as the country's new president within hours of his death on July 24.

Taking office, he paid tribute to Mills as a "prince of peace" who "brought a distinctive insight into Ghanaian politics."

Mills, a former law professor and a tax expert, was Ghana's vice president from 1997 to 2000.

He became president in 2009, narrowly winning a runoff vote, having unsuccessfully run for the top office in 2000 and 2004.

Before his political career, he taught at the University of Ghana and also was a visiting lecturer at Temple University in Pennsylvania and Leiden University in the Netherlands.

Mills' death came several days after he celebrated his 68th birthday. He had said he would run for re-election in December.

U.S. President Barack Obama met with Mills when he visited Ghana in July 2009. Obama praised the country as a model for democracy and stability when Mills visited Washington this year, saying that it had become "a wonderful success story economically on the continent."

British Prime Minister David Cameron described Mills as "a tireless defender of democracy in West Africa and across the continent."

Part of a former British colony, Ghana was among the first African countries to gain independence, in 1957. It endured a series of coups before a military dictator, Jerry Rawlings, took power in 1981. Rawlings led Ghana through a transition to democracy about 10 years later.

Rais Barack Obama wa Marekani alitembelea Rais Mills nchini Ghana mwaka 2009

Rais Kikwete Awasili Accra Kushiriki Mazishi ya Rais wa Ghana, John Evans Atta Mills

RAIS JAKAYA KIKWETE AWASILI ACCRA KUSHIRIKI MAZISHI YA RAIS WA GHANA JOHN EVANS ATTA MILLS

Rais Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete akiwasili leo Agosti 9, 2012 katika uwanja wa ndege wa Kimataifa wa Kotoka jijini Accra, Ghana, kuhudhuria mazishi ya aliyekuwa rais wa nchi hiyo Marehemu John Evans Atta Mills anayetarajiwa kuzikwa kesho Ijumaa Agosti 10, 2012.

PICHA NA IKULU

Rais wa Ghana Afariki Dunia!

Rais wa Ghana, The Honorable John Atta Mills, amefariki ghafla nchini Ghana leo.  Habari kutoka Ghana zinasema kuwa aliugua muda mfupi kabla ya kufariki.  Hivi karibuni alienda Marekani kupimwa afya yake (Routine Medical Check-Up).

Rest in Eternal Peace.

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Kutoka  YAHOO News

The Late President John Atta Mills of Ghana (1944-2012)

Ghana president dies after illness: presidency


By David Adadevoh

AFP -  ....Ghana President John Atta Mills died suddenly on Tuesday at the age of 68 hours after being taken ill and months before a vote in which he was to seek re-election, his office said.

"It is with a heavy heart that we announce the sudden and untimely death of the president of the republic of Ghana," the statement said, adding that Mills, who had travelled recently abroad for a medical check-up, died hours after he got sick.

He died in a hospital in the capital Accra, his office said, without providing a cause.

According to the constitution, Vice President John Dramani Mahama is to take over as interim leader and he was to address the nation shortly. Lawmakers began gathering at parliament for his swearing in.

Presidential elections are set for December in a country seen as a rare example of stable democracy in West Africa and which recently joined the ranks of the world's large-scale oil producers. Mills was to be the ruling party's candidate.

The late president had recently travelled to the United States for what had been described as a routine medical checkup.

Condolences began pouring in for the late leader, including from Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan.

Jonathan "assures the people of Ghana of the sympathy and solidarity of the people of Nigeria as they mourn late President Mills, who did his best during his tenure to carry forward the process of democratic consolidation and socio-economic development in Ghana."

Mills took over as Ghana's president in January 2009.

He narrowly won the vote in 2008 with a less than one percent margin against a candidate from the party of incumbent John Kufuor, widely respected for having bowed out following his two terms in office.

In July last year, Mills was nominated to be the ruling National Democratic Congress party's presidential candidate for December 2012 elections.

The primary represented the first time in the country's history that a sitting president competed for his own party's nomination.

Mills beat his only rival in the party primary, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, the wife of ex-military leader Jerry Rawlings.

He rose to prominence in 1997 when Rawlings named him vice president -- a position he held until the former coup leader-turned-elected president made way for Kufuor after the 2000 elections.

After finishing his law studies in Britain, Mills came home to teach law for 25 years at a Ghana university.

Ghana, a country of some 25 million people, recently joined the ranks of the world's large-scale oil producers. It was the country chosen by Barack Obama for his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as US president in 2009.

The country has begun producing oil from its offshore Jubilee field, one of the largest discoveries in West Africa in recent years. The field's operator Tullow has estimated that the field's recoverable resources amount to up to one billion barrels.

While Ghana has been widely lauded for its democratic credentials, its newly found oil wealth has brought with it warnings of the so-called resource curse, with many pointing to nearby Nigeria as an example.

Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, has long been held back by deeply rooted corruption and mismanagement, while aspects of its economy outside of oil have been neglected.