SHARM EL-SHEIKH: A spokesman for Egypt's Foreign Ministry says the president of Zambia has been taken to France for further treatment after a successful surgery in Egypt. President Levy Mwanawasa did not attend the African Union summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh after he was rushed to a local hospital on Sunday. His vice president has said the 59-year-old leader suffered a stroke. Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said Mwanawasa was taken to France on Tuesday after having the surgery in Egypt. He did not elaborate. The head of the Egyptian hospital that treated Zambia's president says he was in a semi-coma but "still alive when evacuated to Paris from Egypt. A semi-coma is a mild or partial comatose state. Saeed Abdel Fattah Essa says the Zambian president had a "brain hemorrhage which Egyptian doctors managed to stop. Essa also says that President Hosni Mubarak visited the Zambian at the hospital before he was flow to France at 7 pm Tuesday. Mwanawasa has been a critic of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and the political crisis there. Some African delegates at the AU summit have said his absence has hurt attempts to put more pressure on Mugabe. -Agencies
