Zambian president goes abroad for medical check-up

LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambian President Michael Sata has left for a medical check-up abroad at an undisclosed destination, his office said on Monday. The statement said Sata left last night accompanied by his wife and members of his family but gave no further details. Concern about 77-year-old Sata's health has been mounting in Africa's second largest copper producer since June, when he disappeared from the public eye for a period without explanation and was then reported to be getting medical treatment in Israel. Sata missed his scheduled speech at the U.N. General Assembly in September amid reports that he had fallen ill in New York. But a few days before that he had attended the opening of his country's parliament where he joked "I am not dead."