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Suri­name has de­clared two days of na­tion­al mourn­ing ahead of Sat­ur­day’s state fu­ner­al for for­mer pres­i­dent Jules Wi­j­den­bosch.

Wi­j­den­bosch, who served as head of state in the Dutch-speak­ing Caribbean Com­mu­ni­ty (CARI­COM) coun­try be­tween 1996 to 2000, died on April 30—two days be­fore his 84th birth­day.

The au­thor­i­ties said dur­ing the two days of na­tion­al mourn­ing, the flags are flown at half-mast.