Lusaka

Zambia’s opposition on Friday decided against defying a police ban and called off a planned protest over severe fuel shortages that have disrupted transport and mining operations in the Southern African country. ”Police had planned to beat up innocent people at the demonstration,” said an opposition spokesperson.

Zambia’s former vice-president Nevers Mumba has formed a political party as part of his bid to challenge President Levy Mwanawasa in next year’s elections, an aide said on Monday. ”He will be a national coordinator of the newly formed Reformed Party,” said John Ziba, Mumba’s spokesperson.

Evidence gathering by a London High Court judge in the corruption and theft case against Zambia’s former president Frederick Chiluba would not undermine Zambia’s sovereignity or its courts. Zambian authorities began pursuing the case against Chiluba after he left office and in December sanctioned the London High Court in a bid to recover property he allegedly acquired with stolen public funds.

Zambia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered that former president Frederick Chiluba’s institute be sold to cover bills from constructors and other firms that supplied building materials. The former president began building the Frederick Chiluba Institute for Democracy and Industrial Relations when he was head of state but construction had yet to be completed when he left office in 2001.

Zambia’s High Court on Wednesday ruled that three opposition lawmakers who accepted ministerial posts in President Levy Mwanawasa’s government should lose their parliamentary seats because their party has sacked them. The judge said the three ceased to be parliamentarians when they were expelled from their party.

Zambian government officials on Wednesday confirmed that 82 people were injured in a near-fatal train derailment in the country’s Southern province on Tuesday. Several coaches carrying more than 200 people derailed and overturned in the town of Mazabuka, about 200km south of Lusaka, during peak travelling time.

Zambia’s railway authority on Wednesday said it is still waiting for confirmation of the number of people injured in a near-fatal passenger train accident on Tuesday. Several coaches on a train carrying about 500 people derailed and overturned in the town of Mazabuka, about 200km south of Lusaka during peak travelling time.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa on Wednesday announced that Zambia has agreed to deport a Briton to his home country after he was arrested in Zambia on suspicion of terrorism. Haroon Aswat (31) has been named in media reports as the alleged mastermind behind the July 7 blasts in London that killed 56 people.

Zambia will not meet the World Health Organisation (WHO) target to put 100 000 HIV/Aids-infected people on anti-retroviral therapy by the end of the year, the government announced on Monday. The country does not have the financial or human resource capacity to meet this target, according to the minister of health.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has ordered police to arrest miners who vandalise property while continuing a strike for higher pay and better work conditions, a presidential spokesperson said on Friday. Striking miners on Thursday set off explosives at the biggest copper mine, which caused extensive damage.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa was re-elected as leader of his ruling party, results showed on Friday, winning the lion’s share of votes at a stormy party convention that set the stage for next year’s elections. Mwanawasa (58) beat his only rival, former vice-president Enock Kavindele, by a wide margin.

Zambia’s ruling party has expelled a senior member and popular politician over allegations of corruption just days before the start of a national convention called to elect a new party leadership, a spokesperson said on Monday. Austin Chewe had been tipped to win the party’s vice-presidency at the convention.

In an African context, Zambia’s level of corruption is hardly the worst, but it is a problem and politicians, church leaders and ordinary Zambians are starting to speak out against it. With its new status as a highly indebted poor country and the recent scrapping of its debt to Paris Club creditors boosting hopes of an economic upswing, perceptions are everything.

Zambia’s Vice-President, Lupando Mwape, is threatening to quit his party over alleged acts of corruption and bribery to win votes ahead of the ruling party’s convention, state radio said on Monday. He said senior party figures have been engaging in corruption and bribery to win support ahead of the party convention.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa is offering to hold talks with civic groups and founding president Kenneth Kaunda on their demands for a new Constitution to be adopted before next year’s elections, state radio reported on Monday. Mwanawasa made the offer at a rally held on Sunday outside Lusaka, the report said.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa on Monday announced a Cabinet reshuffle and sacked a confidant as well as parliament’s chief whip in the Southern African country, saying it will broaden their experience. ”These changes are meant to expose my colleagues to different responsibilities so as to sharpen and widen their experience,” he said.

Zambian police have released all 68 protesters, including several MPs, who were arrested for participating in a banned opposition demonstration to demand a new Constitution, an official said on Tuesday. ”They will appear in court soon,” police spokesperson Brenda Muntemba said.

Copper mines in mineral-rich Zambia appear to have recovered from a slump two years ago and are expected to reach record levels of about 400 000 tonnes this year, the Central Bank governor said on Tuesday. Caleb Fundanga said production figures for the first nine months of 2004 have surpassed those for the same period in 2003.

A pharmaceutical company producing Aids drugs in Zambia is ready to start clinical trials on 28 HIV-positive volunteers, the Zambia Daily Mail reported on Tuesday. Zambia is the first country in the Southern African region to produce anti-retroviral drugs outside South Africa.

Zambia has halted a dodgy deal in which former senior government officials connived to defraud the government of ,1-million. Marck Chona, chairperson of the task force on corruption, said in a statement on Thursday that some officials who served in a previous government had tried to pocket money by inflating state debts.