The autocratic former ruler of Malawi, Mr Hastings Kamuzu Banda, whose controversial reign over his small southern African country lasted for 30 years, has died in a Johannesburg clinic.
Mr Banda, who upheld Victorian values at home and encouraged some liberation movements abroad, was officially said to be 91, but the clinic in South Africa gave his age as 99.
Mr Banda's successor, President Bakili Muluzi, called an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss funeral arrangements for Mr Banda, who left power in 1994 after being defeated in elections which put an end to his single-party rule. Mr Muluzi ordered all flags in the country to fly at half-mast until Mr Banda is buried.
Mr Alfred Upindi, secretary in the President's office, said he would chair a meeting between the 38-member cabinet and Mr Banda's relatives to discuss when and where he will be buried.
Mr Banda's opposition Malawi Congress Party is also expected to attend the meeting.
Malawians said in a street survey they agreed with the idea of a state funeral. "It would be good for reconciliation," said Dr John Lwamba.
Street vendor Mr Biziwecki Manxozo said: "He deserves a decent burial although his dictatorial rule overshadowed the positive sides of his life." State radio suspended scheduled programmes and played solemn music with the news bulletin about the death.
Mr Banda ruled Malawi from the former British protectorate's independence in 1964 until mounting pressure from churches, trade unionists, other opponents and international donors led to multi-party elections which he lost.
He underwent brain surgery in South Africa in 1993 and had been in failing health ever since.
In December 1995 the former leader was tried and acquitted on charges that he ordered the murder of several political figures in 1983. On November 15th he went into a coma while being treated at a private clinic in Blantyre.
The South African President, Mr Nelson Mandela, said Mr Banda's death was regrettable, though his reputation had been affected by his links with the former apartheid government. Mr Mandela said Mr Banda had nevertheless "done some remarkable things" for other liberation movements in Africa. He said Mr Banda funded the Patriotic Front, a coalition of guerrilla armies which fought a war of liberation in the 1970s in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.
Mr Banda was a staunch ally of the West during the Cold War, but came under strong criticism for human rights violations from organisations such as Amnesty International.
"I want my people to have three things: enough food to eat, decent clothes to wear and a house that doesn't leak when it rains. That is what independence means to me," he said repeatedly. But many Malawians never achieved those modest standards.