Lieut. Gen. Lookout Masuku, a former guerrilla leader and Zimbabwean Army official who was released last month after four years in detention, died Saturday, a hospital spokesman said. He was 46 years old.

A spokesman for Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare said General Masuku was suffering from cryptococcal meningitis, an inflammation of membranes covering the brain.

General Masuku commanded the forces of Joshua Nkomo, now the chief opposition leader, in the guerrilla war against the white Government of what was then Rhodesia. After Zimbabwe became an independent, black-ruled nation in 1980, he became deputy commander of the national army.

He was arrested in 1982 with Mr. Nkomo’s military intelligence chief, Dumiso Dabengwa, on charges of plotting a coup against Prime Minister Robert Mugabe’s Government. They were acquitted in 1983 but were immediately detained again under emergency powers.

General Masuku was freed on March 11, mainly on health grounds, with Vote Moyo, an official of Mr. Nkomo’s party. Mr. Dabengwa is still held.

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