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Zambian President Sata Dies In London

The President of Zambia, Michael Sata, has died in London, where he had been receiving treatment for an undisclosed illness, a government source said on … Continue reading Zambian President Sata Dies In London


Michael Sata.

Michael Sata.The President of Zambia, Michael Sata, has died in London, where he had been receiving treatment for an undisclosed illness, a government source said on Wednesday.

Sata died at the age of 77.

The private Muzi television station and the Zambia Reports and Zambian Watchdog websites said the southern African nation’s leader died on Tuesday evening at London’s King Edward VII hospital.

“It is true. We lost the President. The acting president will make a statement soon,” the source told Reuters.

Sata is likely to be succeeded on an interim basis by defence minister Edgar Lungu, who stood in recently as acting president, or vice-president Guy Scott, who would become Africa’s first white head of state since South Africa’s FW de Klerk in 1994.

The constitution says a new presidential election must be held within 90 days, with most analysts saying Scott is unlikely to run because of citizenship restrictions.
The Zambian kwacha was largely unchanged.

“Obviously there will be a sentimental temptation to go long dollars, but I’m also quite confident the central bank will do everything it can to protect the currency,” one Lusaka-based trader said. “In terms of the economy, everything should still be on track.”

According to a brief government statement released after Santa left the country on October 19 for treatment abroad, Santa was accompanied by his wife and family members.

There was no official update on his condition and Lungu, secretary general of Sata’s Patriotic Front party, had to lead celebrations last week to mark the nation’s 50th anniversary of independence from Britain.

Reuters reports that concern over Sata’s health had been mounting since June when he disappeared from the public eye without explanation and was then reported to be getting medical treatment in Israel.

He missed a scheduled speech at the U.N. General Assembly in September amid reports that he had fallen ill in his New York hotel. A few days before that, he had attended the opening of parliament in Lusaka, joking: “I am not dead.”

Sata has not been seen in public since he returned to Zambia from New York in late September.

He was the fifth President of Zambia, from 23 September 2011 until his death. Santa was a social democrat and he led the Patriotic Front (PF), a major political party in Zambia.