Africa-Press – Namibia. President Hage Geingob has described the death of former Zambian president Rupiah Banda as a loss of a great statesman.
Banda died aged 85 on Friday. Geingob said in a statement that Banda played a pivotal role in Namibia’s fight for independence when he was the president of the United Nations Council for Namibia while serving as Zambia’s representative to the United Nations during the 1970s.
Banda also served as Zambia’s minister of foreign affairs under president Kenneth Kaunda in the mid-1970s. Announcing Banda’s death on Friday, Zambian president Hakainde Hichilema described his death as a great loss to Zambia.
Banda became Zambia’s fourth president in August 2008, following the death of the country’s third president, Levy Mwanawasa. Banda served as vice president under Mwanawasa from October 2006. He was succeeded as president by Michael Sata in September 2011, after Sata defeated him in a presidential election.
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