Ethno-Net Database: Zambia

Reports on Ethnic Relations / Rapports sur les relations éthniques

The following section is mainly consisted of part, full or summaries of articles taken from newspapers.
La section suivante est essentiellement constituée d'exraits, de la totalité ou de résumés d'articles issues de journaux .

The Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) said on Tuesday it was concerned over the government's apparent "lack of regard" for the "rule of law."

LAZ's comments came in the wake of President Levy Mwanawasa's move to dismiss the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Mukelabai Mukelabai, allegedly unconstitutionally.

The row between Mwanawasa and Mukelabai erupted shortly after the trial of former Zambian president Frederick Chiluba, charged with stealing millions of dollars from state coffers, kicked off last month.

On 9 January Mwanawasa revealed that he had received anonymous letters claiming that Mukelabai had been seen attending meetings with Chiluba's co-accused, the former Security Intelligence Service chief, Xaviar Chungu.

The British Broadcasting Corporation reported that Mwanawasa had told journalists the allegations that Chiluba's corruption trial was deliberately mishandled were so serious the DPP had to go. Mukelabai, who denied meeting the former intelligence chief, has refused to leave.

LAZ president Michael Musonda asserted that the association did not wish to get involved in the details of Mwanawasa's wrangle with Mukelabai, but were challenging the dismissal, with the intention of protecting the DPP's office.

"Whatever the reasons for wanting Mukelabai out, the president has to adhere to the provision of the constitution (Article 58), which states that the DPP can only be removed if he is found incompetent or unable to perform the functions of his office, by reason of infirmity of body or mind or for misbehaviour, by an independent tribunal appointed to investigate any claims of incompetence," Musonda explained to IRIN.

"He cannot be removed on the basis of allegations contained in anonymous letters. We are demanding that a tribunal be appointed at once to investigate the allegations," Musonda added.

Zambian Minister of Information Mutale Nalumango said the president had not taken any position on the appointment of a tribunal. "He has not said whether he was for or against it. The setting up of the tribunal is the president's prerogative," she said, adding that Mwanawasa would make his position known in the next few days.

Intially well received, Mwanawasa's anti-corruption campaign has since hit trouble, with Chiluba's trial repeatedly being delayed. Political analyst Fredrick Mutesa said Mwanawasa "was under pressure to deliver".

Chiluba, along with Chungu and several former ministers and senior officials, has been charged with 168 counts of theft totalling more than US $40 million.

Zambia is one of the poorest countries in the world, with life expectancy at under 40 years. More than 80 percent of Zambians live on less than a dollar a day.

Zambia's admission to the six-country International Conference of the Great Lakes region on Wednesday was a step towards "formalising the role the country has already been playing" in the peace process, a senior UN official told IRIN.

UN Development Programme's (UNDP) regional co-ordinator, Enya Chuma, said Zambia's membership was an acknowledgment of the country's mediation efforts over the long-running conflict in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The conference has been established to ensure peace, democracy and development in the Great Lakes region in the wake of the withdrawal of foreign forces from the DRC and last year's agreement creating a power-sharing transitional government in Kinshasa.

Other members of the conference are the DRC, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda.

Former Zambian president Frederick Chiluba had earlier played a leading role as part of the Southern African Development Community's negotiation of the Lusaka ceasefire agreement in the DRC.

Chuma pointed out that Zambia had also been "extremely hospitable" in accommodating refugees from across its shared border with the DRC.

He said UN envoy Ibrahim Fall was in Zambia this week for a meeting with President Levy Mwanawasa to explain the road-map towards peace in the region.

"The conference is a process and not an event and is expected to culminate in a summit, which is scheduled for November this year in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania," Mwanawasa's special assistant for political affairs, Mavis Muyunda, was quoted as saying. "The summit will be followed by inter-ministerial standing committees which will work on the implementation of the decisions of the summit."

Chuma explained that the four themes of the conference - Peace and Security; Democracy and Good Governance; Economic Development and Regional Integration; Humanitarian and Social Issues were supported by the UN special representative's office in the region, UNDP, the Economic Commission of Africa and the Office of the Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs.

The conference process would prompt the participation of other bodies, including the World Bank and the African Development Bank, Chuma added.

The UN Security Council has been the prime mover for the International Conference on the Great Lakes region.

Addressing the UN Security Council in November last year, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan noted that the first exploratory steps towards establishing the organisation were taken between 1996 and 1997 by the then UN special envoy to the Great Lakes.

"To expedite the process, in 1999 I appointed a Special Representative based in Nairobi to consult with the leaders of the region on the objectives and organisation of such a conference," said Annan.

The preparatory process for the summit was launched in June 2003 in Nairobi after the six core countries agreed to the proposed conference.

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