Senegal's Senghor laid to rest

The coffin was draped with the Senegalese flag

Senegal's founding father, the poet and former president Leopold Sedar Senghor, has been laid to rest in state in the capital Dakar.

Five African heads of state and thousands of mourners paid their last respects to the man who led Senegal to independence. He died at the age of 95, on 20 December.

Mourners crammed into Dakar's small cathedral on Saturday for a funeral mass broadcast live on local television and radio.

The coffin was draped in the Senegalese flag as it was carried into the church, accompanied by the voice of one of Mr Senghor's favourite singers, Yande Codou Sene.

Thousands gathered to mourn Mr Senghor

On top was placed one of the former president's proudest possessions - the hat he wore for his induction as the first African member of the great French cultural institution, the Academie Francaise.

Heads of state from Mali, Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde, Mauritania and Niger attended the service, as well as Moroccan Crown Prince Moulaye Rachid and the prime ministers of Ivory Coast and Togo.

Senegal's former colonial master, France, was represented by the country's co-operation minister, Charles Josselin, and Raymond Forni, the speaker of the French national assembly.

Final farewell

Thousands of mourners lined a street named after Mr Senghor as the coffin was taken to the presidential palace, where current President Abdoulaye Wade paid tribute in a ceremony of national homage.

"There are some losses which can never be consoled. But the gestures of sympathy we have received from around the world strengthen us," he said.

Mr Senghor's widow was thanked on behalf of the Senegalese people

In a 25 minute speech, Mr Wade lauded Mr Senghor for "choosing to build in Senegal the first model of modern democracy in Africa."

He praised "negritude" - the black consciousness movement the former president had helped build - as "the affirmation of the personality of black people".

Mr Wade also thanked Mr Senghor's wife, Colette, on behalf of the Senegalese people, for surrounding the leader with love and affection throughout his life.

Leopold Sedar Senghor's body was later buried at the Catholic Bel Air cemetery in Dakar, at a private ceremony attended by his wife and other close family members.