1963 - African leader Kaunda to visit Limerick

Limerick honoured with visit of African leader Kaunda

limerick City will be honoured this weekend when it is visited for the first time by the native leader of an African country.

The man in question is Kenneth Kaunda, leader of the coalition government of Northern Rhodesia, where he is also Minister for Local Government and Social Welfare.

Mr Kaunda’s visit to Limerick is largely a private one. He is coming here to visit an old friend, Fr Robert Thompson SJ, who spent 10 years in Northern Rhodesia doing missionary work. Fr Thompson is now attached to the Jesuit House at The Crescent, since returning from Africa three months ago.

The visit will be a special occasion for a well-known Limerick citizen at whose home Mr Kaunda will be put up during his three-day stay.

The African leader will be on his way from his own country and will touch down in Shannon Airport on Friday morning next.

After his stay in Limerick he will resume his journey by air from Shannon to America, where he will receive an honorary degree from Fordham University.

They state: “The offering of an LLD degree to a political figure who is not a head of state or a head of government is rare. Fordham University, which has awarded such degrees to President Roosevelt, President Eisenhower, President Kennedy, Chancellor Adanauer, Sir Winston Churchill, the President of Ireland, President Senghor and the late President Olympio, is taking special cognisance of what Mr Kaunda has achieved for his people and the world.

Northern Rhodesia is still a British colony of the Central African Federation under Sir Roy Welensky. The other two African countries which comprise the Federation are Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Following the recent conference in London at which Mr Kaunda represented Northern Rhodesia, both Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland are now to secede from the Federation.

There are at least 50 Irish Jesuit fathers doing missionary work in Northern Rhodesia, among whom is Bishop Thomas Corboy, a native of Caherconlish. Fr Patrick Kelly, who is now at home in Mungret, spent nine years in Northern Rhodesia.

Northern Rhodesia is about three times the size of Ireland with a population of three million Africans and 70,000 Europeans. It is potentially the richest country in Africa in minerals, having a £100 million annual copper industry.

Mr Kaunda will make a semi-public appearance in Limerick before heading for Shannon.