THE FOURTH president of the Republic of Zambia, Rupiah Banda, is a veteran politician who has been in the public service for more than 50 years.

Born on 19 February 1937, Banda was among a group of young leaders of the United National Independence Party (UNIP) who won Zambia's independence in October 1964, under the leadership of Kenneth Kaunda.

At the age of 27, he became Zambia's first ambassador to Egypt. It was a significant posting as Cairo was an important African capital during the leadership of Gamal Abdel Nasser, who was a key supporter of independence struggles in Zambia and the region.

Banda, an economist by profession, held several diplomatic posts including Zambia's representative to the United Nations from the late 1960s to early 1970s.

In 1975, he was appointed as Foreign Minister by Kaunda at a critical period in the history of southern Africa, at a time when Mozambique and Angola were gaining independence.

Between 1982 and 1986, he served as President of the United Nations Council on Namibia which was effectively the government of Namibia while the matter of South Africa's disputed mandate over the territory was being resolved.

In 1988, he was again elected as a Member of Parliament and served in the National Assembly until 1991 when the UNIP government was defeated in Zambia's first multi-party elections. In 1994, he was appointed Minister of State Mines and later became Senior Governor for Lusaka in 1998.

He resigned from politics in 2002 to join the private sector, but was recalled to the post of Vice President by the late President Levy Mwanawasa after the 2006 presidential election.