Kenneth Kaunda to campaign for peace
By Manoah Esipisu
LUSAKA: Former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda, who resigned as leader of
his United National Independence Party, said on Tuesday he would devote his
life to resolving African conflicts and fighting the AIDS pandemic.
The 75-year-old ex-president said he would join Libyan leader Muammar
Gaddafi's club of African elder statesmen whose goal is to campaign for
peace from Angola to Sudan and from Sierra Leone to Somalia.
"I carefully considered the invitation extended to several former heads of
state, including my fallen friend Dr Julius Nyerere (former Tanzanian
president), to join President Gaddafi's club of statesmen and I accepted,"
Kaunda said in an interview.
"Time has come for me to concentrate on conflict resolution and promotion of
detente," he added, saying his main peace vehicle would be his Kenneth
Kaunda Peace Foundation.
Kaunda stepped down from the UNIP leadership on Monday. As he spoke at his
home in Lusaka, the Zambian capital, women wailed outside imploring him to
remain active in politics and delegations from opposition parties and church
groups arrived to confirm that he had turned his back on local politics.
Kaunda, who led Zambia to independence from Britain in 1964 and ruled for 27
years before losing power in 1991 elections, will move to the forefront of
the battle against AIDS, which has decimated Zambian professionals in the
last decade.
RAISED ORPHANS OF SON WHO DIED OF AIDS
He acknowledged for the first time that his son Masuzgo died of AIDS in
1986. "I will champion the fight against AIDS. My son died of AIDS and I had
to bring up his five children. I know what is involved in bringing up
children left behind by an AIDS victim," he said.
Between 25 and 30 percent of Zambia's adult urban population is infected
with HIV or has full-blown AIDS. The prevalence in rural areas is 10 to 15
percent in a country of 10 million.
Kaunda's decision to resign has thrown the party into disarray. UNIP members
were shocked by the announcement and one said he would sue Kaunda for not
consulting party members.
Kaunda initially retired after his election defeat to trade union leader
Frederick Chiluba in 1991, but changed his mind in time for 1996 national
elections.
Chiluba responded with constitutional amendments that barred Kaunda from
standing for president on the grounds that his parents were born in Malawi,
not Zambia.
Kaunda boycotted the poll and his relations with Chiluba reached a low point
when the government arrested Kaunda for his alleged role in a botched 1997
coup.
Treason charges were dropped after then South African president Nelson
Mandela intervened.
"My decision has nothing to do with the current government and President
Chiluba. It's my own," he said.
UNIP will fill Kaunda's post at party elections next month. Kaunda's second
son, businessman Tilyenji, is expected to return from Zimbabwe to contest
the post of secretary-general.
Wezi Kaunda, the most politically active of the Kaunda offspring, was poised
to succeed his father as president of UNIP before he was murdered last
November.
Zambia's next presidential poll is in 2001 and with Kaunda gone, analysts
say wealthy businessman Anderson Mazoka is likely to assume the mantle of
chief opposition leader.
Mazoka, a former executive with South African mining giant Anglo American
Plc, leads the opposition United Party for National Development. (Reuters)
For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service
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