Yearbook 2008
Zambia. 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. See handbagpicks.com for Zambia economy.
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.
- ABBREVIATIONFINDER: Click to see the meanings of 2-letter acronym and abbreviation of ZA in general and in geography as Zambia in particular.
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.
Population 2008
According to Countryaah reports, the population of Zambia in 2008 was 13,605,873, ranking number 70 in the world. The population growth rate was 2.790% yearly, and the population density was 18.3026 people per km2.