Former US President Jimmy Carter, who died on Sunday at the age of 100, will be given a state funeral before being buried next to his wife Rosalynn in his hometown of Plains, Georgia.
President Joe Biden has set a state funeral for January 9 and declared it a national day of mourning.
What we know about Carter’s funeral arrangements
The 39th president will be given public honors in the coming days in his southern home state of Georgia and Washington.
A motorcade will take Carter from his hometown of Plains, Georgia, to Atlanta, where he will rest Saturday and Sunday, the Carter Center said in a statement.
His body will then be taken to Washington on January 6 where it will be kept in the Rotunda of the US Capitol.
The Carter Center said, “This will give the American people an opportunity to pay their respects to President Carter.”
A national funeral service will be held at the Washington National Cathedral on January 9 where Biden will deliver a eulogy.
Carter will then be buried in a private ceremony in his hometown of Plains, the Carter Center said.
Tributes are being paid to ‘a statesman and humanitarian’
Carter, a Democrat, became president in January 1977 and his one-term presidency was marked by the 1978 Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, which brought some stability to the Middle East.
He devoted his long post-presidency career to humanitarian work, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
“America and the world lost an extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian,” Biden said in a statement Sunday.
Tributes continued to pour in from world leaders and American politicians on Monday.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said with Carter’s death, “America has lost a committed fighter for democracy. The world has lost a great mediator for peace and human rights in the Middle East.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for Carter’s “great legacy” to be kept alive.
Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi praised Carter as “an icon of humanitarian efforts” for his role in the historic 1978 Camp David Accords, which established peace between Egypt and Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Carter would be remembered for the agreement, calling it “a peace treaty that has lasted almost half a century and provides hope for future generations.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he was mourning “the first American president to recognize the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.”
lo/es (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
