Tambo ‘has had stroke’

Press, 14 August 1989, Page 10

Tambo ‘has had stroke’

NZPA-Reuter Lusaka

The president of the African National Congress, Oliver Tambo, has had a stroke and been flown to Britain for treatment, sources close to the movement said yesterday. The sources, who spoke on condition that they were not identified, said the A.N.C. leader, aged 71, had a stroke on Wednesday in Lusaka and

was flown to Britain on Friday in a jet belonging to a British multi-national company, Lonrho. A.N.C. spokesmen were not immediately available to give details of Mr Tambo’s condition or where he was being treated.

Mr Tambo was absent on Thursday from a summit meeting in Lusaka of the presidents of southern Africa’s six front-line

states and leaders of the A.N.C., the main black guerrilla group fighting the white Government in South Africa.

The summit discussed whether the time was right for front-line states and the A.N.C. to drop confrontation with Pretoria and negotiate an end to apartheid. The A.N.C. SecretaryGeneral, Alfred Nzo, re-

presented the movement at the meeting. A.N.C. spokesmen asked to explain Mr Tambo’s absence said then he was on holiday and having a short rest.

Mr Tambo has been the president of the A.N.C. since 1967 and has lived since then in Zambia, the headquarters of the guerilla group which is outlawed by the South African Government.