Zambian President dies in Paris

zambian President, Levy Mwanawasa, died in a Paris hospital on Thursday after suffering a stroke earlier this week, South Africa’s Talk Radio 702 reported, quoting a Zambian High Commission spokesman.

Officials in Lusaka had no immediate comment.

Mwanawasa, 59, was rushed to hospital on Sunday in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh after suffering a stroke just before an African Union summit.

He was later transferred to Paris for treatment.

“He passed on this morning,” Malone Zaza, identified as the high commission spokesman, told the radio.

Mwanawasa became Zambia’s vice president in 1991 and succeeded his boss, Frederick Chiluba, in 2001 and won a second term in 2006.

He chaired the Southern African Development Community, which has been mediating between President Robert Mugabe and the opposition to try to end a political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe.

The Zambian leader is a favourite of the International Monetary Fund and other Western donors, who extended billions of dollars in debt relief after he cracked down on government spending and launched an anti-graft drive.

He suffered a mild stroke in 2006 but said before being re-elected that year that he was fit to stand for office.

Reports of Zambian President's death prove to be exaggerated

President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa would have been an embarrassing corpse. The Zambian leader, who chairs a bloc of southern African nations, collapsed with a stroke on Sunday and was rushed to hospital in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh just as he prepared to confront Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe at an African summit. Mr Mugabe's most vocal opponent on the continent was transferred to a Paris military hospital for further treatment after reportedly suffering a brain haemorrhage. Egyptian doctors said he was in a "semi-coma".

Yesterday morning, a South African radio station reported that the 59-year-old Zambian President had died in Paris, setting radio and television stations buzzing around the world. One Johannesburg newspaper ran the front page headline, "Stroke kills Zambian president".

There was talk of a state funeral being organised within five days. Zambian senior cabinet ministers were reported to be closeted in urgent meetings with army chiefs. Then the South African President, Thabo Mbeki, announced that he had been informed by the executive secretary of the Southern African Development Community that Mr Mwanawasa had passed away. He interrupted a remembrance ceremony held to honour Zimbabwean migrants killed by racist attacks in South Africa to hold a minute's silence. South Africa's main opposition party sent condolences.

But about an hour later, the Zambian Vice-President, Rupiah Banda, already being tipped as the President's successor in the South African media, said rumours of the President's death were greatly exaggerated. "The President had [a] satisfactory night at the Percy military hospital in France. The news reports , are not true."

Our African leaders are so busy stealing money they forget about their health.

ol'boy check ur facts, news report says d guy aint dead

buchio7:

ol'boy check your facts, news report says d guy aint dead

Read the posts well

It's now confirmed that the zambian president is dead.