Zambia’s first President and champion of African independence Kenneth Kaunda has died at the age of 97, the country’s President Edgar Lungu announced on Thursday evening on Facebook.

Zambia will have 21 days of mourning, said Lungu.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences on Thursday at the death of Kaunda, saying that he was a respected world leader and statesman.

Kaunda’s son, Kamarange Kaunda, also gave the news of the statesman’s death on Facebook. “I am sad to inform we have lost Mzee,” Kaunda’s son wrote, using a Swahili term of respect for an elder. Kaunda had been admitted to the hospital on Monday.