Frederick Chiluba, President of Zambia from November 1991 to January 2002, died aged 68, at his home in Lusaka on 18 June. He had been receiving treatment for a heart condition for a number of years.
Chiluba, a former trade unionist and leader of a grassroots campaign, the Movement for Multiparty Democracy, came to offi ce after 27 years of one-party socialist rule under Kenneth Kaunda. Hailed as Zambia’s “liberator” by his supporters, he initially won praise for his economic and political reforms but his presidency was eventually mired by accusations of oppression and corruption. He reluctantly stepped down after his attempts to change the constitution, in order to secure a third five-year term, stirred popular discontent.
In 2002, Chiluba was prosecuted for embezzling government funds amounting to $500,000 but was acquitted six years later. Civil charges were filed against him in the London High Court where he was convicted of stealing $46 million from the state coffers, but the court order was never enforced in Zambia.
