Sombre day as Gambia prepares first President DK Jawara's burial

EYEAFRICA TV: Banjul, The Gambia: Gambians are preparing to provide a solemn burial ritual to their founding father and first President Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara, who passed away Tuesday at his residence in Fajara, in the country’s coastal town of Bakau, at age 95.
He will be laid to rest at the National Assembly grounds in the capital, Banjul today Thursday, after being accorded a State funeral. Government ministers and other senior officials and religious leaders gather at the Assembly building to pay their last respects to the former veterinarian.
A religious ritual was conducted for him at the King Fahad Mosque in Banjul to pray for the fallen former statesman, who led the tiny West African state from independence on 18 February 1965 to July 1994.
President Adama Barrow declared a seven-day national mourning in respect of the late President, who he described as a peaceful man which earned him the name Kairaba Jawara, meaning peaceful Jawara.
Gambians have described his tenure as the country’s ‘best’ moments when democracy and the rule of law and love and respect for humanity were steadily maintained. As president, he showed Gambians and the world what it takes to be a Gambian.