A former President of Zambia, Edgar Lungu, has died.
His political party and family announced that he died on Thursday in a hospital in South Africa at the age of 68.
Lungu came to power in 2015 after the death in office of his predecessor, Michael Sata.
In a statement, his party, the Patriotic Front, said that Lungu had been receiving specialised medical treatment in a clinic in Pretoria.
“My father had been under medical supervision in recent weeks,” his daughter Tasila Lungu-Mwansa had also announced in a video shared on social media.
“His condition was managed with dignity and privacy with support from all well-wishers,” she said, without detailing the cause of death.
Lungu had suffered from recurring achalasia, a condition caused by narrowing of the oesophagus, for which he had been treated in South Africa.
The former President was a trained military officer and lawyer.
He stepped down from the presidency in 2021 when veteran opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema, the current president, won elections by a landslide.
Lungu had said he planned to run for president again in the 2026 elections.