Soldiers hold up a portrait of former President and General Lê Đức Anh in HCM City's Tân Sơn Nhất airport as his coffin is transported from Hà Nội to be buried at HCM City's Martyrs’ Cemetery. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Vũ

HÀ NỘI — More than 1000 domestic and international delegates on Friday paid tributes to the former President and General Lê Đức Anh and his bereaved family at memorial ceremonies in Hà Nội, HCM City and his home province of Thừa Thiên-Huế. 

Leading a delegation of the Communist Party of Việt Nam (CPV), Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc wrote in the condolence book praising the former President, who passed away on April 22 at the age of 99, as an outstanding leader who had made great contributions to the cause of national liberation and reunification, the international mission of helping the Cambodian people escape genocide, and the cause of national construction and defence. 

“His death leaves deep sorrow for the entire Party, people and army. We will forever remember him as a close comrade, a talented general, an outstanding leader and a person of righteousness and generosity,” the PM wrote.

“General Lê Đức Anh was an outstanding politician and militarist, a talented and exemplary leader with great compassion and a simple lifestyle,” Politburo member and Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân wrote in the book. 

Party and State leaders walk past the coffin at the memorial service. — VNA/VNS Photo Lâm Khánh

Many former senior officials also came to pay their respects to the former President, including former Party General Secretary Nông Đức Mạnh; former Presidents Trần Đức Lương, Nguyễn Minh Triết and Trương Tấn Sang; former Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng; and former NA Chairmen Nguyễn Văn An and Nguyễn Sinh Hùng.

In HCM City, a delegation from the city’s Party Committee, People’s Council, People’s Committee, Vietnam Fatherland Front and retired senior Party and State officials paid tribute to former President Lê Đức Anh at Thống Nhất Hall. 

On behalf of the delegation, Politburo member and Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Nguyễn Thiện Nhân wrote in the condolence book his memories of Lê Đức Anh as a talented and brave general who commanded many big military campaigns, including the historic Hồ Chí Minh Campaign in 1975, leaving many important imprints in the revolutionary cause of the CPV and the Vietnamese nation. He described the former President as an excellent leader with great vision in strategic matters who made major contributions to the cause of Đổi Mới (Reform), national development and external relations.

Many foreign delegations and representatives of international organisations also came to pay their last respects, including a delegation from Cambodia led by Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen, and a delegation from Laos led by Politburo member and President of the Lao Front for National Construction Saysomphone Phomvihane.

Carried to HCM City

His coffin is taken to the Nội Bài int'l airport to be transported to HCM City where he is burried at the city’s Martyrs’ Cemetery. — VNA/VNS Photo Lâm Khánh

Following the memorial service, the flag-draped coffin was taken to Nội Bài International Airport to be transported to HCM City, where he was laid to his final resting place at the city’s Martyrs’ Cemetery at 5pm in a solemn ceremony that was attended by the country's top leaders.

Throughout the world, representatives of various countries' governments have come to pay respect at Vietnamese embassies in their respective countries.

General Secretary of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party and President of Laos Bounnhang Vorachith led a high-ranking delegation to pay tribute to former Vietnamese President, General Lê Đức Anh at the Vietnamese Embassy in Vientiane on the same day.

In the funeral book, the leader wrote that with the passing of comrade Lê Đức Anh, not only the Vietnamese Party, State and people had lost a beloved leader, but the Lao Party, State and people had also lost a close friend and comrade.

Delegations from the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations and several ministries of the country also paid tribute to the late Vietnamese leader.

Local people and civil defense forces hold former president Lê Đức Anh's pictures to pay their respec on Pasteur Street t in HCM City as his body was carried home from the capital. — VNA/VNS Photo An Hiếu

Representatives from several embassies in Laos visited the Vietnamese Embassy to pay homage to him and write in the funeral book.

The Vietnamese embassies in Japan, Indonesia and Australia held ceremonies and opened funeral books for the former President on the same day.

In Tokyo, Chairman of Japan’s International Friendship Exchange Council (FEC) Ken Matsuzawa, former Japanese Ambassador to Việt Nam and FEC Senior Managing Director Hiroyuki Yushita, visited the embassy to express their profound condolences over the passing of the former President.  

In the funeral book, Lao Ambassador to Japan Viroth Sundara wrote that the leader’s death was a great loss to the Vietnamese Government and Vietnamese people at home and abroad. 

Representatives from Myanmar and India in Japan also paid their respects to the late president. 

Chairman of the Japanese Communist Party Kazuo Shii cabled a message of condolences to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Việt Nam on April 23. 

In Jakarta, the Vietnamese Embassy will keep the funeral book open till 5pm on May 4. The ASEAN Secretariat is also flying the flag at half-staff at its headquarters in Jakarta. 

The ASEAN Secretary General plans to pay tribute to the former Vietnamese State leader on May 4. 

In Australia, after the Vietnamese Embassy held a ceremony and opened a condolence book, representatives from the embassies of the Philippines, Cuba, Austria, Libya, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Singapore and other diplomatic agencies in Australia’s Canberra, Sydney and Perth visited the embassy to pay homage and express their sympathies.

The Vietnamese embassies situated in European countries, including Britain, France, Germany and Switzerland, also opened their memorial books to receive respects paid to the late leader from international friends. — VNS