DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (PANA)�Dr. Julius Nyerere, the first president of Tanzania, was interred Oct. 23 at his home village of Butiama in northern Tanzania amid solemn pomp and ceremony.

The casket containing his body was lowered in the grave accompanied by full military honors, including a final 21-gun salute.

The burial was preceded by a requiem mass at the 400-seat Catholic Church which the late leader helped build in the village not too far from his home.

The casket was then transported to the burial site at Mwitongo, near the late Mr. Nyerere�s newly-built residence.

He is buried near where his father Chief Burito Nyerere and mother Christina Mgaya Ny-ang�ombe were laid to rest.

His funeral was witnessed by Presidents Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania and Salmin Amour of Zanzibar. Uganda�s President Yoweri Museveni, who once gave Mr. Nyerere a few heads of Ankole cattle to rear on his farm, was also present, and so was former Zambian leader Kenneth Kaunda, a long-time ally in the liberation struggles of southern Africa.

The wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela, Graca Machel, was at the funeral flanked by Mr. Nyerere�s widow. Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi was represented by Foreign Affairs Minister Bonaya Godana.

Secretary General Salim Ahmed Salim represented the Organization of African Unity, of which Mr. Nyerere was founding president.

Mr. Nyerere died Sept. 14 at St. Thomas Hospital in London of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. He was 77-years-old.

At least 18 heads of state from Africa and Europe came to mourn Mr. Nyerere, whose body lay in state several days at the national stadium for public viewing. Tanzanians wept for the beloved leader and invaded the airfield when the plane carrying his remains landed at his home village.

Heads of State are Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, South Africa�s Thabo Mbeki, Uganda�s Yoweri Museveni, Ghana�s Jerry Rawlings, Mozambique�s Joachim Chissano, Rwanda�s Pasteur Bizimungu, Pierre Buyoya of Burundi, Namibia�s Sam Nujoma, Marti Ahtisaari of Finland and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt attended memorial services, where Secretary of State Madeleine Albright represented the United States.

Presidents Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, King Mswati of Swaziland, Bakili Muluzi of Malawi, Libya�s Moammar Gadhafi and Kenya�s Daniel Arap Moi and Botswana�s Festus Mogae and the country�s former President, Sir Ketumile Masire attended the memorial as did Eritrea�s Isayas Afeworki has also confirmed to participate.

Sweden was represented by Deputy Prime Minister, Seychelles by its Vice President James Michael. The East African Cooperation Secretariat was represented by Executive Secretary Francis Muthaura, while the OAU was represented by Secretary General Salim Ahmed Salim, a Tanzanian national himself and a former premier under Mr. Nyerere.

Jimmy Carter, the former U.S. president and close friend of Mr. Nyerere, paid his respects. The Netherlands was represented by Crown Prince Willem Alexander.

In total, about 56 countries were represented during the requiem mass at which Mr. Nyerere�s eulogy will also be read.

Soon after the mass, Mr. Nyerere�s body was flown to Musoma and transported by road to his Butiama home for burial.

Beyond the fact that he was one of the first African presidents to voluntarily leave power, Mr. Nyerere will be remembered for championing the African liberation struggle and particularly for being "one of the few to look for an indigenous approach to devel-opment," said Dr. Sibry J.M. Tapsoba, of the West and Central Africa Regional Office of the International Development Research Centre, based in Dakar, Senegal.

Known as the "father of the nation," and affectionately called "Mwalimu," a Kiswahili word for teacher, Mr. Nyerere was Tanzania�s first president, serving from 1962 to 1985.

He is credited with helping his country forge a strong national identity, and known for his Pan-Africanist commitment to continent-wide progress and unity, ability to connect with common people and help of freedom fighters, especially in South Africa, who fought colonial and white minority rule.