LUSAKA, Zambia — Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, who broke the African tradition of silence and solidarity among leaders to denounce neighboring Zimbabwe’s economic ruin, died in a French military hospital Tuesday. He was 59.
Mwanawasa had suffered a stroke and collapsed at an African Union summit in Egypt in June, which cost Zimbabweans the voice of one of their few champions on the continent.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy called Mwanawasa’s death “a great loss for the African continent” and for democracy.
Mwanawasa was airlifted from Egypt to France’s Percy Military Hospital, where he remained until he had an urgent operation Monday and died Tuesday, according to Vice President Rupiah Banda.
Mwanawasa’s illness precipitated power struggles within and between Zambia’s political parties, and his death leaves a power vacuum. Mwanawasa did not groom a successor, and Banda was expected to continue as acting president until an election that must be held within 90 days.
Widely regarded as a man of integrity, Mwanawasa won praise for breaking the traditional silence of African leaders to criticize his autocratic neighbor, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, which encouraged a few other African presidents to show their displeasure.
Mwanawasa was equally outspoken about Western criticism of the unconditional aid that China is pouring into Africa, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars China has invested in mining Zambian copper.
“You people in the West redeem yourself before you begin attacking China,” Mwanawasa told an audience in the United States last year.
At home and abroad, Mwanawasa won praise for fighting corruption and modernizing Zambia’s economy. But he admitted that he had failed to lift the nation of 12 million people out of crushing poverty.
Born on Sept. 3, 1948, in the northern town of Mufulira, Mwanawasa graduated from the University of Zambia and practiced law before going into government service. After a stint as solicitor general in 1986 under Zambia’s first president, Kenneth Kaunda, Mwanawasa became a key figure in the push for multiparty democracy.
When Frederick Chiluba defeated Kaunda in Zambia’s first multiparty elections in 1991, Mwanawasa was appointed vice president, but he soon quit the post, complaining of corruption.
Still, Chiluba later tapped Mwanawasa to be his successor.
Mwanawasa won the presidency in 2001 in an election marred by allegations of fraud and was re-elected with 43 percent of votes in a 2006 poll generally regarded as transparent and fair.
Opponents said Mwanawasa pandered to the whims of Western donors; Mwanawasa countered it was thanks to the debt relief that he was able to increase spending on education and health.
He is survived by his wife, Maureen, and six children. Funeral plans were not immediately announced.
