Body of president back home

The body of the late Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa was flown home yesterday to full military honors and a nation in mourning for a leader widely praised for his integrity and vision.

The country's leaders gathered at the airport for the arrival of the red, white and blue French military plane carrying the body of the former president, who died in Paris after a stroke.

His widow Maureen was met off the plane by acting President Rupiah Banda and Zambia's founding president Kenneth Kaunda as a military brass band played the national anthem, a 21-gun salute echoed around the airport and jet fighters screamed overhead.