Kampala — Peter Nkurunziza, 58, a senior Ugandan diplomat has died in the United Kingdom, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed in a statement yesterday.

Mr Nkurunziza, who has been the counsellor at the Uganda High Commission in London, passed away on September 26 last month. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs regrets to announce the death of a member of staff Mr Peter Kingogole Nkurunziza, who has been a grade 3 officer, at our Uganda High Commission in London," reads a statement from the ministry's office.

His remains arrived at Entebbe Airport yesterday at 2:30pm.

A memorial service will be held this morning at the Kampala Central Church Adventist Centre, Makerere. A funeral vigil will be held today at Buganda Buladde, eight miles on Gayaza road.

"Thereafter, burial will take place at 2:00pm at Gayaza-Julwe, Nangabo in Wakiso District," read the statement. The ministry's publicist, Mr Guma Muganda, declined to tell the cause of the diplomat's death. "We are not authorised to discuss such details (post-mortem)," Mr Guma said.

But Mr Michael Katunjje, a relative of the fallen diplomat, told Daily Monitor that Mr Nkurunziza succumbed to prostrate cancer. The fallen diplomat is survived by one wife, Ms Martha Nyakabwa Nkurunziza and four children.