Wednesday 29 October 2014

Zambia's Appoints Africa's First White President


Zambia's Vice President Guy Scott (L) listens as U.S. President Barack Obama (not pictured) speaks, at the first Leaders' Session of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, at the State Department in Washington, in this August 6, 2014 file picture. Zambian Vice President Guy Scott has been named the interim leader of Africa's second-largest copper producer, a government minister said on October 29, 2014, a day after President Michael Sata died in London aged 77. Zambia will hold a presidential election to choose a permanent successor to Sata within three months, defence minister Edgar Lungu said.   REUTERS/Larry Downing/Files
Scott..Pic: Reuters


Zambia's Guy Scott became Africa's first white head of state in 20 years on Wednesday after the president, "King Cobra" Michael Sata, died in a London hospital aged 77, Reuters reports.

Scott, a Cambridge-educated economist born to Scottish parents, was Sata's vice president. He takes over as interim leader until an election in three months, making him the first white African leader since South Africa's F.W. de Klerk lost to Nelson Mandela in the 1994 election that ended apartheid.

"Elections for the office of president will take place within 90 days. In the interim I am acting president," Scott said in a brief televised address.

"The period of national mourning will start today. We will miss our beloved president and comrade."
Scott, 70, will not be eligible to run for the presidency because of citizenship restrictions, analysts say.

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