Zambia has started mass demolition of illegal houses in the capital, Lusaka, in a move to end corruption in the distribution of land plots, a police spokesperson said on Saturday. Bonny Kapeso said police moved in to raze houses in an exercise that started late on Friday night and ended in the early hours of Saturday.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa won a second term in office in an election his challenger Michael Sata accused him of rigging, official results showed on Monday. The Electoral Commission of Zambia announced the final results after Sata conceded defeat but accused Mwanawasa of stealing victory.

Zambian opposition challenger Michael Sata conceded defeat on Monday as official results in the country’s tightly fought presidential election gave incumbent Levy Mwanawasa an unassailable lead. But he said Mwanawasa had ”stolen victory” and urged his supporters who staged violent protests on Sunday to remain calm. Sata said he expected his tally to be at most 900 000 votes.

Zambia deployed armed police in the capital Lusaka on Sunday after President Levy Mwanawasa overtook his opponent’s early lead in the election count, prompting allegations of ballot rigging. Members of an elite paramilitary unit patrolled the main business district while others took up positions at the privately owned Post newspaper.

Zambian opposition leader Michael Sata praised the policies of Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe on Thursday as he voted in a close-fought election in which he threatens to dislodge the internationally respected president. Sata, a fiery populist who has exploited popular discontent with government economic policies, has mounted a dangerous challenge to incumbent Levy Mwanawasa in Thursday’s poll.

Zambia’s Kenneth Kaunda, a liberation hero who ruled for decades, is supposed to be living in quiet retirement — offering a good, if somewhat rare, example of an African president fading gently into the twilight. But as Zambia gears up for presidential polls on September 28, the 82-year-old has emerged as an unexpected powerbroker in the Southern African country

Zambia’s Chinese-run Chambishi copper mine has stopped production after riots on Tuesday in which six workers were shot, police, company and union officials said on Wednesday. It remained unclear who fired the shots amid conflicting reports from the restive copper-belt region in Zambia that has been the scene of labour violence in the past.