The first President of Zambia, Kenneth Kaunda, has reportedly died.
The elder statesman was reported to have passed on at age 97.
Kaunda, the country’s founding father, ruled for 27 years from 1964 after it gained independence from Britain.
His death came days after he was reported to have been admitted to Maina Soko Military Hospital in Lusaka, the capital, where he was treated for pneumonia from Monday.
He was one of the first generation of post-independence African leaders.
Kaunda led his vulnerable and landlocked nation through a perilous era in southern Africa.
Notably among other achievements during his 27 years in power was that he maintained domestic stability in a comparatively benign manner while providing bases for the movements struggling against his far more powerful white neighbours in Rhodesia and South Africa.
