Angolans and foreign dignitaries gathered on Sunday for the funeral of long-serving ex-leader José Eduardo dos Santos, who died in Spain in July, but whose burial was delayed by a family request for an autopsy.

The funeral of Dos Santos, who died in a clinic in Barcelona on 8 July at the age of 79, is taking place days after an election appeared to have returned his MPLA party to power in results that have been disputed by the country’s main opposition coalition.

Dos Santos and his family dominated Angolan politics for the 38 years that he ruled, up to 2017. His formerly Marxist party, the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), in power for nearly five decades, looks almost certain to have won Wednesday’s election.

Heads of state and senior ministers from around the continent, as well as the president of Angola’s former colonial ruler Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, were slated to attend.

The presence of foreign VIPs has enabled authorities to seek to head off possible protests over the disputed provisional results.

“Due to the state funeral of the late former president José Eduardo dos Santos, the national police appeals to all citizens, civil society and organised groups that intend to organise activities on Saturday and Sunday, to contain themselves out of respect for the former head of state,” Angola’s National Police said in a statement reported by the Lusa news agency on Saturday.

With 97% of the ballot counted, the electoral commission has given the MPLA and President Joao Lourenço a 51% majority, with the main opposition, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, or UNITA, trailing with 44.5%.

Diverting ‘attention’ from results

UNITA’s leader, Costa Junior, has rejected the results as fraudulent, and there have been sporadic protests that were quickly shut down by police. The electoral commission has said the process was fair and transparent.