Malawi’s President Mutharika buried
Apr 23, 2012, 3:28 PM
BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) – Malawi’s president, who died of a heart attack earlier this month, has been buried after a funeral service that drew African leaders and thousands of Malawian mourners.
Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Mwai Kibaki of Kenya and Armando Guebuza of Mozambique were among the heads of state at Monday’s Catholic service in Blantyre, Malawi’s commercial capital. President Bingu wa Mutharika, who died at 78, was buried later at his nearby Ndata Farm in a white mausoleum he had built for his first wife, Ethel, who died in 2007.
Mutharika called the mausoleum “Maphumulo wa Bata,” or “Peaceful Rest.” But other Malawians, critical of the money he spent on his farm retreat soon after first being elected in 2004, dubbed the mausoleum the Taj Mahal.
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