President Yoweri Museveni has paid tribute to former US President, George Herbert Walker Bush, who passed away on Friday at 94 years. George W. H. Bush was the 41st president of the United States, from 1989 to 1993.
Using social media, Museveni on Sunday described Bush as an outstanding politician and saluted him for his role in ending the Cold War, an era when the US and the Soviet Union and their allies nearly went to war. “On Uganda’s and my own behalf, I join the Americans and the rest of the world to mourn the passing of His Excellency George H. W. Bush.
He was a man of outstanding political credentials, guiding America and the world towards the end of the Cold War. May his soul rest in peace,” Museveni stated in a tweet. Prior to assuming the presidency, Bush served as the 43rd vice-president of the US, from 1981 to 1989. A decorated war pilot and World War II veteran, he served in several positions, including as CIA chief from 1976 to 1977.
He was succeeded by Bill Clinton who served as 42nd US President. His son, George Walker Bush, served as the 43rd President from 2001 to 2009. His death comes a few months after his wife, Barbara Bush, with whom he was married for 73 years, passed away in April. Bush Senior is survived by his five children and 17 grandchildren.
In 1990, Bush declared a “new world order” and drove Iraq from Kuwait but a military campaign in the Middle East has been blamed for stirring chaos in the region. Announcing his death to the US, former President George W. Bush said:
“Jeb, Neil, Marvin, Doro and I are saddened to announce that after 94 remarkable years, our dear dad has died. George H. W. Bush was a man of the highest character and the best dad a son or daughter could ask for. The entire Bush family is deeply grateful for his life and love, for the compassion of those who have cared and prayed for dad and for the condolences of our friends and fellow citizens.”
US President Donald Trump tweeted that he was a man of “essential authenticity, disarming wit and unwavering commitment to faith, family and country”. The late president will lie in state in the rotunda of the United States Capitol building from today until Wednesday.
Bush will receive a state funeral on Wednesday at the National Cathedral in Washington. A second memorial service is scheduled to follow at St Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston. He will then be laid to rest at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas, later this week.