Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa in Stable Condition

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, who suffered a stroke June 29, remains in stable condition at a hospital near Paris, where he's being treated for hypertension, government spokesman John Musukuma said by phone from the capital Lusaka today.

Mwanawasa will undergo further medical tests on July 7, Zambian Vice-President Rupiah Banda said in a statement on the government's Web site yesterday.

``First Lady Maureen Mwanawasa and family members continue to be at the President's bedside,'' Banda said.

Mwanawasa, 59, was flown to Percy Military Hospital July 1 after suffering a stroke in Egypt, where he was attending an African Union meeting. He came to power in Zambia, Africa's biggest copper producer, in 2001 and was elected to a second term in office in 2006.

The Zambian president, who holds the current rotating chairmanship of the South African Development Community, has been a vocal critic of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, breaking with a tradition among other southern African leaders of not criticizing their counterparts in the region.