Zambian President Michael Sata has died in London, where he had been receiving treatment for an undisclosed illness, a government source in Africa’s second-largest copper producer said on Wednesday. The private Muzi television station and the Zambia Reports and Zambian Watchdog websites said the southern African nation’s 77-year-old 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 trader said.
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 trader said.