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February 26, 2003

Media Contacts: Jan Jennings (858) 822-1684

FORMER PRESIDENT OF ZAMBIA, AIDS ACTIVIST TO SPEAK
ON HIV/AIDS IN AFRICA MARCH 7 IN REGENTS’ LECTURE AT UCSD

Kenneth D. Kaunda, founding president of the Republic of Zambia, AIDS activist, and champion of independence for African countries, will speak at 3 p.m. March 7 in Robinson Auditorium at the University of California, San Diego. The event is free and open to the public.

Kaunda’s topic is HIV/AIDS in Africa.

As Zambian president from 1964 to 1991, Kaunda was one of the first African heads of state to acknowledge the destructiveness of AIDS. He remains active in the struggle to help African children with AIDS, establishing, in September, 2002, the Kaunda Children of Africa Foundation which includes a research and training institute, educational radio programming, mobile clinics, boarding schools, and community centers for African children.

“As the President of the Republic of Zambia for 27 years I devoted my life to fighting a war for the improvement of the welfare of my fellow human beings,” Kaunda says, and that now, he devotes his life “to fighting a different war – a war against AIDS and its consequences on the children of Africa who are affected and infected by the disease.”

Kaunda is currently serving as the first Balfour African President-in-Residence at Boston University, a one-year appointment sponsored by the Balfour Foundation which provides the former Zambian president the opportunity to share thoughts and insights with faculty and students at BU, as well as on the broader front with business leaders, government officials, teachers, and students throughout the country.

In addition to his leadership in Zambia, Kaunda played an important role in the struggle for African independence in Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique, and Angola, and supported the fight against South Africa’s apartheid regime. He has held leadership positions in regional and international organizations, including the Pan African Freedom Movement, the Organization of African Unity, the Southern African Development Conference, and the Preferential Trade Movement.

Kaunda holds numerous honorary doctorate degrees from universities worldwide in recognition of his role in promoting peace and democracy throughout the African continent.

Kaunda’s visit to the UCSD campus as a Regents’ Lecturer is presented by the Department of Literature, the Department of Political Science, the UCSD Center for the Humanities, the Dean of Arts and Humanities, the Dean of Social Sciences, the Institute for International, Comparative, and Area Studies, and the AIDS Research Institute.

In addition to his March 7 Regents’ Lecture on HIV/AIDS in Africa, Kaunda will speak on The Role of the Frontline States in the Liberation of Southern Africa at 3 p.m. March 3 in the UCSD Cross Cultural Center, and on Democratization of Africa at 6 p.m. March 4 in the Gardner Room of the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies.

For further information on Kaunda’s UCSD visit, call the Department of Literature at 858 534-4618.