MONDAY 5.00PM:
ROGER CHONGWE, chairman of the major seven-party Zambian opposition alliance, has written from Australia to the independent Zambia Post newspaper saying that he is afraid to return home following last month’s failed coup.
Chongwe, regarded as second only to Kenneth Kaunda in political stature, heads the Liberal Progressive Front party. He said he felt his life was “genuinely at risk” if he returned home before colleagues advised he would be safe. He is in Australia visiting his Australian wife’s family.
Chongwe, who was wounded — along with Kaunda — by police gunfire at a political rally in August, said his `near death experience at the hands of the police and intelligence and other harassment I have experienced” had prompted his decision.
Chongwe and Kaunda were both out of the country during last month’s attempted military coup, which led to a state of emergency. Kaunda is in London, and his aides say he plans to return to Zambia. One prominent opposition leader, Dean Mung’omba, has been in detention since the coup, and has alleged that he has been tortured.