Kenya's Maathai to be cremated

The remains of Kenyan Nobel peace laureate Wangari Maathai, who died late last month, will be cremated at the weekend, her family announced on Monday. Maathai died on September 25 while undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer at a Nairobi hospital. Her body will be cremated on Saturday. "She is being cremated in line with her will," family spokeswoman Vertistine Mbaya told reporters. Last week, Mbaya said they were looking for alternatives to a wooden coffin as Maathai, 71, opposed cutting down trees to make caskets. President Mwai Kibaki also last week said that the environmentalist will be accorded a state funeral. Maathai in 2004 became the first African woman to be awarded the Nobel peace prize for her years of environmental conservation work. In Kenya, she was renowned for her staunch protests against plans by the regime of former president Daniel arap Moi to build a skyscraper at a park in central Nairobi and grab a forest near the city centre. She also joined forces with movements that pressed for political freedom and democracy during Moi's single-party rule. Maathai's body will be taken to the city park she saved from the high-rise building construction for a tree-planting ceremony then to the crematorium.