Zambia President Michael Sata dies at 77

LUSAKA, Zambia, Oct. 29 (UPI) —

Michael Sata, the president of Zambia since 2011, died Tuesday evening at a London hospital. He was 77.

Although the cause of death has not yet been released, his spokesman said last week that Sata had left Zambia for a "medical checkup."

"It’s shocking, it’s devastating, because I knew he was sick. But I did not know it was going to end this way," said George Zulu, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda met Wednesday with fellow cabinet ministers to discuss the next steps. According to Zambia’s constitution, the vice president — Guy Scott — would assume presidential duties for a 90-day period while elections are organized. But Sata had appointed Defense Minister Edgar Lungu acting president during his medical absence.

The vice president, a white man of Scottish descent, is ineligible to run for president because his parents were born in Britain. If named interim president, Scott would be the first white leader of an African state since apartheid.

"The acting president is still in charge, we are awaiting the Cabinet announcement on the transition," said Zulu.

Sata, nicknamed the "Cobra King" for his biting comments, was elected in 2011 after decades as an opposition party leader. He was born on July 6, 1937 in northern Zambia and worked as a police officer and later trade unionist under colonial rule. After leaving Zambia for London in the 1960s, he returned when Zambia gained independence from Britain and entered politics. He was governor of Lusaka in 1985 and joined the opposition Movement for Multiparty Democracy in 1991 before founding his own opposition party, the Patriotic Front.

Sata is survived by his wife, Christine Kaseba Sata, and eight children.