Zambia’s government has issued a warrant for the arrest of a British writer who was ordered to quit the country for ”insulting” President Levy Mwanawasa in his weekly newspaper column, police sources said on Wednesday.
”All security agents in the country have been ordered to look for Roy Clarke and immediately detain him pending his deportation,” a senior police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.
”The alarm was raised after the 24-hour ultimatum expired,” the officer said, referring to a government order on Monday that Clarke leave the country within a day.
The Lusaka High Court later on Monday temporarily blocked his deportation until it had ruled in the case in which Clarke will challenge the reasons for his deportation.
Clarke’s lawyer Patrick Matibini said that case would come up for hearing on Thursday in the Lusaka High Court, but could not confirm whether his client was in hiding.
Said Matibini: ”Roy is around but we cannot give information about his current whereabouts.”
Home Affairs Minister Ronnie Shikapwasha told local newspapers that the stay granted by the court would not affect Clarke’s deportation.
”Clarke’s deportation is still in place. His residence permit is gone,” he said.
The article in the Post newspaper, modelled along the lines of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, referred to the person in charge of the farm as ”Mawelewele” — ”fool” in the local Nyanja dialect.
The article, published last Thursday, also referred to ministers as ”long-legged giraffes, red-lipped, long-fingered baboons.”
Clarke has lived in Zambia for many years and is married to a prominent Zambian women’s rights activist.
The British high commission (embassy) said it was not aware of Clarke’s whereabouts, but said he was welcome to return to Britain.
”We cannot comment further because the matter is subject to legal proceedings,” the high commission said in a statement. – Sapa-AFP