African leaders paid their final respects to former Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki in a state funeral service on Friday.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Ethiopia's Sahle-Work Zewde, President Salva Kiir of South Sudan and Tanzania's vice president, Philip Isdor Mpango, were some of several leaders at Kenya's Nyayo National Stadium, where thousands gathered for the service.

"He was a great statesman," Ramaphosa said at the funeral. "For us as South Africans, we saw him in the mold in which we saw our own first president, President Nelson Mandela."

Kibaki, whose death was announced last Friday, served two terms from 2002 to 2013 as Kenya's third president. He was 90 years old.

A mixed legacy

Kenyans turned out en masse to watch a colorful military procession move to the national stadium amid a somber mood. Kibaki will be buried on Saturday in his hometown in central Kenya.

Noted both as a statesman and economist, Kibaki served Kenya in several positions for over five decades, including as trade minister and vice president. He earned degrees from Uganda's Makerere University, attended the London School of Economics on a commonwealth scholarship and worked as a teacher before joining politics in the 1950s.

Kibaki's election as president in 2002 broke the hold of decades of rule by the Kenya African National Union party under dictator Daniel Arap Moi. The new president ushered in economic, education and infrastructure reforms that boosted Kenya's stalled growth and anchored the country as east Africa's economic powerhouse.

Although he is remembered as a gentleman, Kibaki's leadership was marred by widespread corruption scandals that saw his popularity wane. By 2007 when he sought reelection, several opinion polls placed his opponent Raila Odinga ahead of him.

So, when the electoral commission announced Kibaki as winner of the vote and hurriedly swore him in, the opposition revolted.

The conflict quickly turned deadly. More than 1,000 people died in the violence that followed as the political dispute took on ethnic and tribal colorations. More than 600,000 people were displaced.

Former UN Secretary-General General Kofi-Annan brokered a fragile deal that saw Kibaki maintain his incumbency while creating a new role as prime minister for Odinga.

In the aftermath of the chaos, Kibaki oversaw a referendum that endorsed a new constitution with significant checks and balances and with less power in the presidency. The constitution was adopted in 2010.

Speaking at the service on Friday, President Uhuru Kenyatta said Kibaki was "a modest man" who "did not believe in shouting" while he worked.

"His desire to contribute and to transform our country, Kenya, in a quiet and secluded place with no one watching is what makes him a legend," President Kenyatta said.

sl/msh (Reuters, AFP)