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Article: Hastings Banda.(Hastings Kamuzu Banda, president and political tyrant of Malawi, died at the official age of 91)(Brief Article)(Obituary)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- November 29, 1997
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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HE LOOKED like an eccentric version of the typical African dictator: he proclaimed himself president for life, locked up his opponents, lived royally in a poor country, carried a fly whisk and went to church. But Hastings Kamuzu Banda, who ruled Malawi for its first three decades, was no cardboard cut-out African ruler. He had another life, some would say another persona. The two strands, never reconciled, made him one of the most enigmatic characters of 20th-century Africa.
Dr Banda was officially 91 but his oldest friends believe he was at least ten years older. He said he was born in the tiny British protectorate of Nyasaland, now Malawi, in Central Africa, and had ...