Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa was buried on Wednesday amid accolades from fellow African leaders, but his widow said he died a sad, unappreciated man.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, current chairman of the Southern African Development Community, praised Mwanawasa for helping in “the restoration and strengthening of regional political unity and cohesion.”
But the Zambian leader broke ranks to become the first African president to speak out against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and the crisis in that country, which he likened to a “sinking Titanic.”
PHOTO: AFP
Mugabe was at the funeral, where he described the Zambian leader as “a frank and honest man.”
Mwanawasa died on Aug. 19 in the French military hospital where he had been treated since suffering a stroke in June at an African Union summit. Mwanawasa had been expected to champion the cause of ordinary Zimbabweans there.
Also at the funeral was Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, whom Mwanawasa invited to an emergency summit of the Southern African Development Community in May. It was an unprecedented move and Mugabe boycotted the event in protest. Talks to resolve Zimbabwe’s electoral crisis have deadlocked over how much Mugabe and Tsvangirai would share power.
Mwanawasa’s widow, Maureen, addressing the body in a flag-covered coffin, said: “Typical of you, you died on duty. You died a sad man as no one seemed to appreciate your sacrifices. Had you been with us today, I am sure these accolades could have made you happy.”
Wednesday would have been Mwanawasa’s 60th birthday and the couple’s 20th wedding anniversary.
“All of us have lost a great leader, a true pan-Africanist and a champion of the poor,” said Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete.
Mwanawasa himself admitted that he had failed to lift his nation of 12 million people out of crushing poverty despite market-friendly policies that helped the country’s agriculture- and mining-based economy thrive.
At home and abroad, Mwanawasa was praised for fighting corruption and modernizing Zambia’s economy, helped by booming copper prices.
China, which has invested mightily in Zambia’s mining industry, sent Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi (楊潔篪) to honor the man who told a US audience: “You people in the West redeem yourself before you begin attacking China.”
Mwanawasa was a staunch defender of the unconditional Chinese aid that has poured into the continent.
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
It turns out that looming collision between our Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies might not happen after all. Astronomers on Monday said that the probability of the two spiral galaxies colliding is less than previously thought, with a 50-50 chance within the next 10 billion years. That is essentially a coin flip, but still better odds than previous estimates and farther out in time. “As it stands, proclamations of the impending demise of our galaxy seem greatly exaggerated,” the Finnish-led team wrote in a study appearing in Nature Astronomy. While good news for the Milky Way galaxy, the latest forecast might be moot