Zambians Give Handkerchief Salute to Fallen Statesman Kaunda
Voice of America
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA - Mourners waving white handkerchiefs, Kenneth Kaunda's trademark symbol, paid tribute Friday at a memorial service for Zambia's first president, who died last month aged 97, as VIPs hailed him as one of southern Africa's great statesmen.
Neatly distanced in compliance with COVID rules, scores of Zambians stood on the terraces of the National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka, swaying to dirges and solemn music played by a military band. A hero of the struggle against white-minority rule, Kaunda died on June 17 at a military hospital where he had been admitted with pneumonia. He always carried a white handkerchief -- an item that he said symbolized love and peace, and which he started carrying while incarcerated during the struggle for independence.Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in this still picture taken from a video, May 26, 2024. Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. A member of the bomb squad of the Israeli police collects debris after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants struck in the Israeli city of Herzliya on May 26, 2024.