FRANCE: FRANCOIS MITTERRAND FUNERAL UPDATE

(11 Jan 1996) Eng/Russian/Nat

France has bade farewell to its longest-serving president.

Francois Mitterrand was remembered in ceremonies in Paris and in his hometown in southwestern France.

Leaders came from around the world to attend a memorial service at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.

The Socialist politician, who led his country from 1981 to last May, died Monday from prostate cancer. He was 79.

It was a day of commemorations that matched the contradictions of the man himself: the lover of pomp and circumstance, and the family man anxious to remain in touch with his rural roots.

The private man came to the fore in a quiet ceremony in the early hours of the morning.

A small group of family members watched as bearers carried his coffin out of his office.

Hours later, the plane carrying his remains touched down at an air base in the southwest of the country.

Danielle Mitterrand, in a black overcoat and white scarf, looked on stoically as military cadets carried his coffin across the airstrip.

The widow was joined by her sons, Gilbert and Jean-Christophe, and her grandchildren.

Mitterrand's longtime mistress Anne Pingeot and their 21-year-old daughter, whose existence was only revealed to the public two years ago, stood alongside them.

It was the small southwestern town of Jarnac where he was born that Mitterrand chose for his final resting place.

The funeral cortege paraded slowly through the narrow streets of the town as onlookers hung from windows.

The coffin was borne into the town's ancient church for a private family service away from the eyes of the world.

Emerging once again through the church doors, the coffin was taken to the cemetery where the body of the former head of state was finally laid to rest in his family tomb.

It was at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris that the public man took his leave from the world.

In a ceremony of almost imperial splendour, 250 leaders and dignitaries paid their last respects to the man who led France for longer than anyone else this century.

Political differences and personal enmity vanished as world leaders together remembered a man who was for all a respected colleague -- and for some a close friend.

German Chancellor Helmut Kohl wept as he bade farewell to the man who had done so much to cement relations between their two nations.

After the memorial ceremony the foreign visitors visited the Elysee Palace to pay their respects to France's current president, Jacques Chirac.

It was an opportunity to pay tribute to France's fallen leader.

Israel's Shimon Peres praised Mitterrand as a man who possessed compassion and commitment.

SOUNDBITE: (in English)
"An unusual combination of culture and justice, a man that by inclination liked art and beauty, and by conviction wanted to see freedom and justice."
SUPERCAPTION: Shimon Peres, Israeli Prime Minister

Russian President Boris Yeltsin said that his heart was aching ...

But, mindful about concern over his recent bout with heart disease, he quickly added that it was just a figure of speech.

SOUNDBITE: (in Russian)
"I'm coming out of here with a broken heart because we lost a man who felt for Russia and wanted to see it's coming of age (cutaway) "And I want to show the whole world that I lost some weight and I'm healthy."
SUPER CAPTION: Boris Yeltsin, President of Russia

And Britain's John Major said he admired the man on both a personal and political level.
SOUNDBITE:
SUPER CAPTION: John Major, British Prime Minister


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