Zambia: President Sata Dies in London - Local Media
By NewsfromAfrica
LUSAKA---Zambian President Michael Chilufya Sata, 77 has died in London at King Edward VII’s hospital,Beaumont St, where he had been hospitalized since October 19, three private Zambian media outlets said on Wednesday October 29.
Sata who has been receiving treatment for an undisclosed illness in London for the past week died at approximately 2100 hours Zambia local time on Tuesday night. He left Zambia for medical treatment on October 19 accompanied by his wife and family members, according to a brief government statement that gave no further details.
Recently the president was unable to address the United Nations General Assembly, and was forced to depart Zambia just two days before the 50th Anniversary of Independence.
Upon his departure from Zambia, His Minister of Defence and Minister Of Justice Edgar Lungu was Appointed Acting President, though it is not clear who will serve following his death given the constitutional clause on parentage which may nullify Vice President Guy Scott.
There has been no official update on his condition and acting president Edgar Lungu had to lead celebrations last week to mark the landlocked nation's 50th anniversary of independence from Britain.
The President’s health has been the subject of numerous Conflicting reports in the media and contradictory statements by Patriotic Front (PF) Government officials for many months. Concern over his health has been mounting in the country since June, when he disappeared from the public eye without explanation and was then reported to be getting medical treatment in Israel.
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.
Sata, who once worked as a railway porter in London, had been the country's president since September, 2011 after winning a tight presidential race against the then incumbent, Rupiah Banda.