President Uhuru Kenyatta is in Lusaka, Zambia for the state funeral of the country’s founding president Kenneth Kaunda.

President Kenyatta landed in Zambia on Friday July 2, 2021 and signed a condolence book at the Agriculture Show Grounds in the upmarket Lusaka upon arrival.

He joins other African leaders who have arrived in the country for Kaunda’s send off, among them being Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera, Zimbabw’s Emmerson Mnangagwa and President Mokgweetsi Masisi of Botswana.

Tanzania’s former President Jakaya Kikwete and Namibia’s President Hage Geingob are also in the country for the ceremony that comes ahead of Kaunda’s burial on July 7.

South African head of State Cyril Ramaphosa and Mozambique’s Filipe Nyusi, who is the African Union chairperson, have also arrived in the country regarded as their second home.

The State funeral is being held at the Lusaka Show Grounds and the casket bearing Kaunda’s body was placed at the centre of the venue as Zambians waving white handkerchiefs and international mourners followed the procession.

Kaunda, 97, died at a military hospital in Lusaka after an illness. He will be buried at the Presidential Burial Corner, where Michael Sata, Levy Mwanawasa and Frederick Chiluba were also buried.