With a 19-gun cannon salute and a religious ceremony Kenya on Saturday paid a military tribute to its army chief who died in a helicopter accident this week.
Kenyan President William Ruto, along with Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and opposition leader Raila Odinga, attended the ceremony at the Ulinzi Sports Complex in the capital Nairobi.
Francis Omondi Ogolla's coffin, topped with the Kenyan flag, entered the enclosure at 1:00 pm (1000 GMT), accompanied by great fanfare before a minute of silence then ensued for the former Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces (CDF).
Ogolla, 61, and nine other military officials perished on Thursday when their helicopter went down in a remote region in the west of the country, just short of a year since his appointment as armed forces head by Ruto.
Visiting troops
He had been visiting troops deployed in a security operation in the North Rift region, which is plagued by violence caused by armed bandits and cattle rustlers.
Two military personnel aboard survived the crash.
According to Ruto, the crew were on a Bell UH-1B copter, nicknamed "Huey", a model developed in the 1950s and used notably by US forces serving in the war in Vietnam.
Safety record
Kenyan media have reported that Thursday's crash was the fifth involving a Kenyan military copter in the past year with a considerable number old and poorly maintained.
The Kenya Air Force has dispatched a team of investigators to determine what caused the accident which sparked three days of mourning from Friday across the country.
Ogolla's family said in a statement Friday that his funeral would be held Sunday at his home in Siaya in the west of the country, followed by a memorial service in a Nairobi suburb on April 26.
Ogolla, a married father of two with one grandchild, had headed his country's air force between 2018 and 2021.
Messages of condolence for Thursday's crash came in from across Kenya and the African continent Friday as well as the United Nations, the United States and allies.
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