Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

LISBON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - The late Prince Karim Al-Hussaini Aga Khan IV, who died on Tuesday in Lisbon after nearly seven decades as the spiritual leader of the global Ismaili Muslim community, will be buried in Egypt on Sunday, according to the Ismaili Imamat.

After a funeral ceremony at the Ismaili Centre in the Portuguese capital on Saturday - to be attended by leaders of the community, Portuguese government members and foreign dignitaries - Aga Khan IV will be laid to rest at a private burial ceremony in Aswan, Egypt on Sunday, it said in a statement on Thursday.

Just before leaving Aswan to spend the summer in Cannes, Princess Yvonne Aga Khan, wife of the late Aga Khan gave a rare interview to YOUSSEF EL-DEEB

Shortly before his death in 1957, Sultan Mohamed Shah Agha Khan, spiritual leader of the Ismaili sect of Islam, chose as his resting place a solitary sand dune on the West Bank of the Nile at Aswan. Princess Yvonne Agha Khan, known as the Begum, a French national and the Sultan`s third wife, has cared for this tomb ever since, staying at their house nearby for six months of the year and spending the summer at their villa in Cannes.

The Aga Khan has announced a grant of $320,000 for medical equipment by the Om Habibeh Foundation, established by the Aga Khan's late step grandmother, Om Habibeh, Begum Sultan Mahmood Shah Aga Khan.Following a meeting with governor of Aswan, H.E. Samir Hasnain, the Aga Khan announced the grant as part of a series of new development initiatives to benefit the people of Aswan, says a press release.