Yearbook 2008
 Zambia.
According to
Countryaah reports, the government announced in May that bank
accounts, real estate and other assets at a estimated value
equivalent to at least SEK 350 million were seized from
senior officials who were members of the former President
Frederick Chiluba's circle. The confiscated assets would be
used to build new hospitals. Ex-President Chiluba has been
accused of serious corruption since his departure in 2002,
but the judicial processes against him in his home country
are extremely slow, partly due to his failing health.
Chiluba's successor Levy Mwanawasa passed away in August.
Vice President Rupiah Banda provisionally assumed the post
of head of state until new elections could be held at the
end of October. The election became controversial and
triggered unrest. During the reckoning, long time opposition
politician Michael Sata led, before Banda passed and was
proclaimed victorious with little margin, after which he
left office after only a few hours.
The fall in international copper prices hampered the sale of
the Nkana and Nchanga mines, which Zambia's main
international donors had otherwise demanded. This made the
government's situation more difficult. At the end of the
year, the economy was further affected by droughts and
floods in different parts of the country, respectively. The
disasters were countered by the United Nations Food
Organization, FAO, which sent relief for 17 million dollars.
dollars. In November, former Finance Minister Ronald Penza
was assassinated, a few months after he was forced to
resign.
The advance of the Democratic Congo rebels and the
government of Angola sent waves of refugees into Zambia. In
May 1999, the UN and the OAU investigated allegations of
support by the Zambian government to UNITA in Angola . In
September, leaders of the opposition in the Congo came to
Lusaka to sign a peace agreement with the Zambian
government, but internal divisions hampered the drafting of
an agreement.
In January 2000, the Angolan army concentrated its forces
at the border with Zambia to combat the last pockets of
UNITA partisans. This concentration increased the readiness
of Zambia's army. The number of Angolan refugees in camps in
Zambia grew so drastically that it became fatal to live in
the camps. The UN was forced to send food aid in support of
Lusaka government assistance. In February, Chiluba refused
to allow troops from Angola to pursue UNITA insurgents into
Zambia and reinforced the forces at the border to prevent
Angola from crossing over without permission. In April, the
government declared that it would gladly receive the white
landlords and farmers who, due to the violence, had to leave
neighboring Zimbabwe .
In May 2001, political divisions led to the formation of
a new party to challenge Chiluba's MMD. About 80 prominent
members of the MMD Executive Board left the party to form
the Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD). The split of
the MMD was the result of an internal debate over whether
Chiluba should stand for a 3rd presidential term. This was
the 80 against.
In July, Chiluba's former election campaign strategist,
Paul Tembo, was killed shortly before testifying against 3
ministers in a high-level corruption case. He had left MMD
shortly before and enrolled in FDD. Tembo's lawyers and
representatives of his party declared that they thought it
was a political murder.
Also in July, Zambia issued an appeal for disaster relief
to about DKK 2 million. people after failed harvest due to
floods and droughts in different parts of the country. Acc.
Vice President Enock Kavindele needed 100,000 tonnes of
maize to cover the food shortage.
In January 2002, MMD's candidate, Levy Mwanawasa, was
named president after a highly contested presidential and
parliamentary election in December. Ten opposition parties
declared that fraud and manipulation had distorted the
outcome. Mwanawasa reportedly got 28.7% of the vote, while
Anderson Mazoka of UPND got 26.7%.
In April, the government attempted to partially privatize
the heavily indebted Zambian National Commercial Bank
(ZANACO), following pressure from the IMF and the World Bank
that had placed the privatization as a condition for the $
3.8 billion waiver. US $ of Zambia debt. However,
privatization threatened to run out in the sand as no one
was interested in buying.
Encouraged by President Mwanawasa, in July Parliament
rescinded President Chiluba's immunity so that he could be
prosecuted.
In October, the government declared it would not receive
GMO maize as relief to the country's $ 3 million. starving. |
