Lusaka - The Zambian government announced Friday that the country's late president Levy Mwanawasa would be buried on September 3 after his body had been taken around the country for public viewing.

The date had been chosen to coincide with Mwanawasa's birthday, secretary to the cabinet Dr Joshua Kanganja said.

Mwanawasa would have turned 60 on September 30.

Mwanawasa's body is due to arrive back in the former British colony on Saturday from Paris, where he died on Tuesday after suffering a massive stroke in late June. His remains are to lie in state at Mulungushi International Conference Centre before being taken to all the country's nine provinces.

Kanganja said the final burial arrangements would be made after his return but sources said he was likely to be buried at the Cenotaph in Lusaka opposite cabinet offices, where Zambia's war dead are commemorated.

Justice Minister George Kunda confirmed in a radio and television broadcast Friday that presidential elections would be held within 90 days from Mwanawasa's death on August 19, as required by the constitution.

Deputy president Rupiah Banda is acting president in the meantime.

The passing of the popular Mwanawasa, who came to power in 2001 presidential elections and was reelected to a second term in 2006, has left a power vacuum in Zambia. He is the first of Zambia's three post-independence presidents to die.

There is no obvious successor to him within his ruling Movement for a Multi-Party Democracy because the post of party vice-president is vacant.

State deputy president Banda is from the opposition United National Independence Party of Zambia's first post-independence leader Kenneth Kaunda. (dpa)