Zambia's President Levy Mwanawasa reported to have died

(19 Aug 2008) SHOTLIST
FILE: Lusaka - 26 December 2001
1. Levy Mwanawasa, Movement for Multiparty Democracy party presidential candidate, arriving at rally
2. Cutaway crowd cheering and waving
3. Mwanawasa waving to crowd from stage
4. Wide of crowd
FILE: Lusaka - 2 December 2002
5. Cars arriving at the presidential palace
6. High Court judges seated ahead of swearing-in ceremony
7. Audience seated for ceremony
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Levy Mwanawasa, Zambian President:
"I, Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, having been constitutionally elected to the office of the President of the Republic of Zambia, do swear that I will faithfully and diligently discharge my duties and perform my functions in this high office."
9. Crowds cheering under tree
10. Mwanawasa and Chief Justice Matthew Ngulube sign document and shake hands
STORYLINE
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa died in a French hospital on Tuesday, nearly two months after he was hospitalised for a stroke.
"It is with deep sorrow that I have to tell the people of Zambia that our president ... has passed away this morning," Vice-President Rupiah Banda said on radio and television.
He announced a week long period of national mourning for the 59-year-old leader who was formally sworn in as President in January 2002.
Banda did not give the cause of death. But he said that Mwanawasa had taken a turn for the worse on Monday.
Mwanawasa was evacuated to Percy Military Hospital in Paris after he collapsed on 30 June on the eve of an African Union summit in Egypt.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy called Mwanawasa's death "a great loss for the African continent" and for democracy.
Mwanawasa won praise for his anti-corruption and economic modernisation drive in one of the world's biggest copper producers, but failed to lift the Zambian people out of crushing poverty.
He broke the traditional silence of African leaders toward his autocratic neighbour, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe.
Mwanawasa described Zimbabwe as a "catastrophe" and criticised the trampling of democracy in the 2008 presidential elections.
His stance encouraged other African presidents to show their displeasure with Mugabe, who was long revered as an African independence hero.
The softly spoken lawyer was Zambia's third president since independence from Britain in 1964 and so was not bound by the liberation movement ties of older African leaders.
His death leaves a power vacuum in Zambia.
Under the country's constitution, elections are meant to be held within 90 days.

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