Aime Cesaire to be buried in Martinique despite calls for Pantheon burial

FORT-DE-FRANCE, Martinique: Aime Cesaire will be buried in his native Martinique Sunday despite suggestions that the poet and politician belongs with other honored figures in the Pantheon of Paris.

A public memorial ceremony is to be attended by French president Nicolas Sarkozy, soccer great Lilian Thuram and Caribbean officials such as Cuba's culture minister, according to a government statement.

Officials at the capital of the French overseas department are opening park-and-ride areas and will provide free bus service to residents. Only relatives and top government officials will be allowed at his burial following the ceremony.

Some French officials, including Culture Minister Christine Albanel and former presidential candidate Segolene Royal, had asked that Cesaire be buried in the hallowed Pantheon.

Cesaire died Thursday at a Fort-de-France hospital where he was being treated for heart problems and other ailments. He was celebrated as an anti-colonialist poet and politician who helped establish the concept of black pride and was honored throughout the French-speaking world.

Thousands of people clutching Cesaire's picture or wearing T-shirts in his memory crowded into a soccer stadium Friday to view his body and pay their respects. They sang and recited his poetry as they surrounded his coffin, placed in the middle of the stadium beside candles and flowers.

"He has done so much for us that it's only natural we accompany him in this last journey," 72-year-old Marce Faisant said Friday. "He built Fort-de-France, and thanks to him we are emerging a bit from our insulation."

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