Zambia extends state of emergency

Zambian President Edgar Lungu File picture: Rogan Ward/Reuters

Zambian President Edgar Lungu File picture: Rogan Ward/Reuters

Published Jul 11, 2017

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Lusaka - Zambia's parliament voted on

Tuesday to extend the state of emergency by three months, the

presidency office said, as tensions rose following the arrest of

the main opposition leader.

Africa's second-largest copper producer, is usually seen as

one of the continent's more stable democracies. But it has been

on a political knife-edge since the detention in April on

treason charges of Hakainde Hichilema, who narrowly lost to

President Edgar Lungu in a bruising election last year.

Lungu invoked the emergency powers last week to deal with

"acts of sabotage" by his political opponents, after fire gutted

the country's biggest marketplace.

On Tuesday, Zambian lawmakers voted to extend the state of

emergency by another 90 days to give law enforcement agencies

"enhanced measures" to curb "rising cases of politically

motivated fires and vandalism of vital electricity supply

lines".

"The measures ... were deemed necessary to restore public

order," Lungu's aide, Amos Chanda, said in a statement.

Chanda said civil liberties such as free movement had not

been suspended and businesses would be allowed to operate as

normal.

Lungu's move last week to impose emergency laws came within

a day of the fire that destroyed part of City Market in the

capital Lusaka.

Nobody was killed or injured in the blaze, which the

president said "bordered on economic sabotage" and was aimed at

making the country ungovernable.

Police have said some people also planned to vandalise

installations including bridges and power stations.

They said one person was taken into custody for trying to

torch a bus station and they were seeking others who vandalised

electricity transmission lines near the capital last month.

Hichilema, leader of the United Party for National

Development, was arrested in April at his home and accused of

trying to overthrow the government.

An economist and businessman widely known by his initials

"HH", Hichilema was defeated last August by Lungu in an election

the opposition politician denounced as fraudulent. His attempts

to mount a legal challenge have been unsuccessful. 

Reuters

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