Mourners gather to bid farewell to Zambia’s Kenneth Kaunda

MOURNERS in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, have gathered at a stadium for a state memorial service for Kenneth Kaunda, the nation’s founding president and supporter of African nationalism.

A number of leaders from across the continent also attended Friday’s service for Zambia’s former president, who died last month aged 97.

A coffin draped in the Zambian flag was driven on a gun carriage into the 60,000-capacity National Heroes Stadium and placed under a white marquee.

Complying with COVID-19 social distancing rules, attendees waved white handkerchiefs as they stood on the terraces, dancing to dirges and solemn music played by a military band.

A hero of the struggle against white rule in southern Africa, Kaunda died on June 17 at a military hospital where he had been admitted with pneumonia.

He always carried a white handkerchief – an item that he said symbolised love and peace, and which he started carrying while