Lusaka

Until five years ago, Michael Sata — the most charismatic of Zambia’s presidential candidates in the 2006 tripartite elections — was chief executive of the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy and the chief ”fixer” for former president Frederick Chiluba. The opposition Patriotic Front leader, popularly known as ”King Cobra”, has gone on to emerge as the leading presidential contender.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, who is facing four challengers in next week’s general elections, on Friday predicted an outright victory for himself and the ruling party. Mwanawasa, who is seeking a second term in office, said the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy would triumph on September 28 as most Zambians had been impressed with his performance.

Zambia has temporarily closed its main border crossing with Tanzania following a night of riots that left several people injured and property damaged, an official said on Friday. The riots were sparked off late on Thursday after word went round that a Tanzanian national had died in police custody in Zambia, said Edwin Sinyinza, a district commissioner in northern Zambia.

South African cardiac specialists are to help decide whether Zambia’s former president Frederick Chiluba is fit to stand trial on corruption charges. One of the doctors behind a preliminary medical report said that Chiluba was ”very sick” but more tests would be needed to ascertain the extent of his illness.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, who is seeking a second term in office in next month’s elections, is likely to face at least 11 challengers, according to a preliminary nominations list released on Monday. Eleven opposition candidates have indicated they will run in the September 28 polls.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has won applause from foreign donors for his economic and anti-corruption record. But while Zambia has avoided the kind of strife that has plagued some of its neighbours, that hasn’t made its politics any more predictable. Mwanawasa is now seeking a second term in a September 28 poll whose outcome is far from certain.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa on Wednesday night dissolved the country’s Parliament and his Cabinet and named September 28 as the date for the country’s next round of national elections. Earlier in the day, the country’s high court refused to forbid Mwanawasa from unilaterally deciding an election date.

Pride in Zambia’s surging currency is giving way to concern as farmers, manufacturers, tourism officials and aid groups start to feel the sharp edge of the strong kwacha. The Zambian currency gained 30% against the dollar in just a few weeks last November, the result of high international copper prices and rising foreign investment.

Zambia President Levy Mwanawasa declared himself fit on Thursday to run for a second five-year term in elections later this year despite suffering a mild stroke, state-run radio reported. Opposition leaders have argued Mwanawasa, who has a history of hypertension, should step down because of poor health.

Zambia has issued a démarche, the highest form of diplomatic protest, against an outspoken French envoy that will see him leave the country, the foreign ministry confirmed on Monday. The government has complained to the French government over what it called a blatant breach of diplomatic etiquette by the ambassador.

By 2015 about 20% of Zambia’s children will be orphaned by HIV/Aids, the Department of Foreign Affairs warned on Monday. Current official estimates indicate that over 1,1-million Zambian children are orphans, mostly as a result of Aids.

The Zambian government is investigating allegations that a group of white farmers and safari operators plotted to undermine President Levy Mwanawasa in upcoming elections, a presidential spokesperson said on Wednesday. The white farmers and safari operators have been accused by the president’s office of working with an opposition party to cause artificial food shortages ahead of elections to be held some time later this year.

Former Zambian president Frederick Chiluba, who is undergoing medical treatment in South Africa, is planning to sue a Zambian newspaper for alleging that he is HIV-positive, his spokesperson said on Tuesday. The privately-owned newspaper The Post said in an editorial that medical tests stating that Zambia’s second president was HIV-negative were fake.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa said on Tuesday that he can still perform his duties as head of state despite suffering a minor stroke that landed him in a London hospital two weeks ago. ”I am feeling very well, far better than when I went in. I am still not fully recovered but I will function,” Mwanawasa said in a telephone interview from London with state radio.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa is recovering from a minor stroke at an unspecified London hospital, state-run radio reported on Thursday. Government spokesperson Vernon Mwaanga confirmed for the first time on Thursday the reason for Mwanawasa’s hospital visit and told national radio the president was steadily improving.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa was on Monday being treated in a hospital in London after falling ill at the start of the weekend, news reports said on Monday. Mwanawasa became ill on Friday in Zambia and had to be evacuated to London for treatment, the state-owned Times of Zambia and Zambia Daily Mail reported on Monday.

Zambia’s ruling party on Friday endorsed a controversial new electoral bill which seeks to give President Levy Mwanawasa stronger mandate over the conduct of general elections to be held later this year. The bill aims to correct a constitutional anomaly on who should set the date of the elections.

Zambia’s former president Frederick Chiluba, who is facing several corruption charges, left on Friday for South Africa for medical treatment, his spokesperson said. ”He left the country this morning on a chartered plane,” Emmanuel Mwamba told Agence France-Presse, but declined to give details on his ailment.

Hundreds of villagers in southern Zambia have slaughtered their chickens and goats in the wake of false reports of the presence of the deadly bird flu having reached the country, news reports said on Wednesday. It was not clear who was responsible for the false reports, according to local media.

Indicted former Zambian president Frederick Chiluba has petitioned the African Union over the Zambian government’s efforts to pursue him through the London High Court on charges of corruption. An AU resolution says that all former African heads of state facing charges over offences allegedly committed during their time in power must be tried in their home countries.

Zambia on Wednesday called on the African Union to oppose any effort to bring United Nations sanctions against Iran because of its controversial nuclear programme, saying these would hurt regional economies. Iran last week announced it was resuming nuclear research.

Zambia shut down its biggest hydro-electric power station on Sunday after a major landslide caused by heavy rains, an official announced. Heavy rains swept through the Kafue Gorge Lower Hydroelectric Power Project and caused a landslide that could have destroyed the machinery at the project.

The speaker of Zambia’s National Assembly on Wednesday issued a stern warning to the public not to interfere in parliamentary proceedings. The warning followed the publication by the Oasis Forum, a powerful alliance of civil society organisations and church groups, of the names of lawmakers who voted down a citizen’s petition calling for a new Constitution.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa on Monday declared a national disaster and appealed to the international community for food aid after government estimates showed that 1,2-million people face famine. Zambia became the second country in drought-hit Southern Africa to declare a national disaster following Malawi.

Zambia has with immediate effect banned the importation of poultry and related products as a precautionary measure to avoid bird flu, an official said on Saturday. The country has been put on alert over the avian influenza following the migration of birds from the northern hemisphere to the south.

Zambia on Wednesday began a three-month trial of traditional medicines on 25 HIV patients to test claims that they could cure the deadly virus. Health Minister Sylvia Masebo said the government would use World Health Organisation guidelines in the clinical trials of three traditional drugs made by traditional medical practitioners.