Among the numerous "eternal" presidents of the African continent, he was one of those who, even after the end of their term of office, remained in negative memories.
Kenneth Kaunda led Zambia, the former British colony of Northern Rhodesia, from 1964 to 1991.
Peter Sturm
Editor in politics, responsible for "Political Books".
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Kaunda, born on April 28, 1924, trained as a teacher. But he got involved in politics early on. In the fifties he fought against the colonial authorities for equal rights for the natives. In 1959 he was sentenced to nine months in prison. After his release, his companions elected him chairman of the United National Independence Party. This party remained his power base. The transition to the first government led by locals took place in cooperation with the British, who at the beginning of the 1960s could no longer evade the independence of the Africans and ultimately no longer had the power to do so.
Kaundas party won the first elections in Zambia in 1964. He became the founding president of the new state.
Domestically, Kaunda pursued a policy that was based on what Julius Nyerere propagated in Tanzania as "African socialism".
The resource-rich Zambia had good prerequisites.
In terms of foreign policy, Kaunda tried to overcome the conflicts in southern Africa.
The problem of white settler rule in (southern) Rhodesia, today's Zimbabwe, was particularly close to his heart.
In 1990 Kaunda finally had to give way to increasing pressure from the opposition.
In 1997 he was briefly imprisoned for alleged involvement in an attempted coup, and in 1998 he finally retired from politics.
Kenneth Kaunda died on Thursday at the age of 97.