Days after Angolans voted Wednesday to choose their deputies in a ballot that should allow the selection of the next president amid intense competition that the country has not

seen and criticism of its preliminary results. A national funeral is organized in Angola for former President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled the country for 38 years with an iron fist. He died on July 8 at the age of 79 at a hospital in Barcelona where he was admitted after a cardiac arrest. His body arrived last week from Spain, where he had been staying since 2019. The Angolan Government wanted to organize a national funeral ceremony for him.

Dos Santos served as President of Angola from 1979 to 2017 without being directly elected

The head of the list of the winning party will automatically be assigned the functions of head of state.

Some 12 heads of State are supposed to attend the ceremony, which is overseen by current President João Lourenço, in the central capital's Place de la République.

Artillery shots will be fired. After the military ceremony, the audience will observe a minute's silence.

Statements will be made by representatives of the family.

None of the former President's children were present when the body was imprisoned in front of the public.

His eldest daughter Isabel, who is being prosecuted in corruption investigations, wrote on social media that she would not be present.

The funeral procession for the former President's burial will then be transferred to the cemetery.

He made Jose Eduardo dos Santos of Angola, rich in natural resources, one of the continent's largest oil producers alongside Nigeria. But he used that to enrich himself and his family, while the rest of the country remained one of the poorest in the world.