Tanzania yesterday paid tribute to its founding father, Julius Nyerere, in a state funeral attended by many of the African rulers he helped to power.
Dozens of world leaders attended the service at the capital's National Stadium - including former revolutionaries who plotted their campaigns from Dar es Salaam in the 1960s.
Nyerere, who died of leukaemia aged 77 in London last week, ruled Tanzania as its first president from 1962 until he stepped down in 1985.
He was one of Africa's most charismatic leaders, a figurehead of the Third World, but revered also by ordinary Tanzanians who called him simply "Mwalimu", Kiswahili for "teacher". While he remained an avowed socialist, he shepherded multi-party democracy to Tanzania and eventually allowed the emergence of some free-market economics.
His early policies were used as a blueprint by many of the current crop of African rulers who attended the funeral - including Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki.
At yesterday's funeral European royalty, senior officials from organisations such as the World Bank and the UN, and representatives from virtually every government in the world - including the Minister of State for the Environment, Mr Noel Davern, representing Ireland - came to pay their respects.