Zambia president Mwanawasa dies at 59

PARIS, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- France said Tuesday that Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa died in a French hospital where he was being treated for a stroke suffered seven weeks ago.

The 59-year-old leader fell ill in Egypt last month on the eve of the African Union summit.

AllAfrica.com said Mwanawasa's death was confirmed by French President Nicholas Sarkozy.

Mwanawasa became president of the African nation in 2002 after a career as a lawyer that included a term as Zambia's solicitor general and as the nation's vice president in the 1990s, his Wikipedia entry noted.

He most recently was among the first African leaders to publicly criticize President Robert Mugabe for his political crackdown in neighboring Zimbabwe.