Zambia's founding president, Kenneth Kaunda, dies aged 97

Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia's founding president who led his country for 27 years and championed Africa's struggles against apartheid and HIV/AIDS, has died at the age of 97. 

Kenneth Kaunda, popularly known as "KK", was being treated for pneumonia at the Maina Soko Medical Centre, a military hospital in Lusaka. 

"On behalf of the entire nation and on my own behalf, I pray that the entire Kaunda family is comforted as we mourn our first president and true African icon," President Edgar Lungu said in a message on his Facebook page. 

Authorities declared 21 days of mourning for the liberation hero who ruled from 1964, after the southern African nation won its independence from Britain, until 1991.