ZAMBIA

World Report 2001 Entry

World Report 2000 Entry

World Report 1999 Entry

World Report 1998 Entry

Zambia -- No Model for Democracy: Continuing H. R. Violations
Political tensions began to rise in Zambia soon after the conclusion of the June 1997 Consultative Group (CG) meeting on Zambia. Two weeks after the meeting closed, the opposition United National Independence Party (UNIP) found its Lusaka headquarters besieged by police and filled with tear gas. Some passersby were caught up in the police attack and at least one market stallholder was badly beaten. Twenty-three UNIP supporters who left the building were arrested , some whom were badly beaten with batons at the Force Headquarters of the police in Lusaka. Eleven detainees, including UNIP Central Committee member Rabbison Chongo, were reportedly seriously injured, among them, two women spent five days in hospital, one with a broken leg, and the other with an injured knee. One detainee was reportedly tortured with electric shocks.n this report, Human Rights Watch documents serious abuses by the Zambian government such as police brutality and torture of detainees. Former president Kenneth Kaunda and opposition leader Rodger Chongwe were injured in August 1997 when police opened fire with live ammunition to disperse an opposition rally and are lucky to be alive. In addition, a number of opposition leaders were targeted and as many as eighty-two were detained. A number of these detainees were tortured.The Zambian government has said it wants to hold a 'trial within a trial' for the alleged torturers when the High Court starts its hearing of those supposedly implicated in the October coup. Human Rights Watch condemns such a proposal as insufficient to address these serious allegations of abuse and calls for an independent inquiry.
(A1002) 5/98, 57pp., $7.00.
Order online

Human Rights in Zambia since the 1996 Elections
On November 18, 1996 presidential and parliamentary elections were held in Zambia, five years almost to the day since the first multiparty elections in November 1991. The election results returned President Frederick Chiluba and his Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) to power; but these were very different elections. The 1991 election was considered a landmark for the continent. Zambia was the first country in Africa to return a popularly-elected president to power, and bring in a national assembly that included the opposition. This report looks at human rights in Zambia since the 1996 elections. Since that time,there have been a number of developments. Some improvement in the human rights record has been seen; but for most part, change has been superficial.
(A903) 07/97, 71 pp., $7.00/£5.95
Order online

Elections and Human Rights in The Third Republic
On November 18, 1996, Zambians voted in parliamentary and presidential elections—the second multiparty elections since the end in 1991 of twenty-seven years of authoritarian and mostly single-party rule, under former president Kenneth Kaunda. The Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) won the majority of seats contested and President Frederick Chiluba was returned to office in these 1996 elections although several opposition parties, including the former ruling United National Independence Party (UNIP) boycotted them. Unfortunately, numerous human rights violations before the vote undermined the democratic process, making the playing field for these elections tilted in favor of the ruling MMD and seriously undermining the legitimacy of the elections themselves. This has set a negative tone for the country’s development over the next few years.
(A804) 12/96, 53 pp., $5.00/£2.95
Order online

Model for Democracy Declares State of Emergency
On March 4, 1993 President Chiluba declared a state of emergency, alleging the existence of a plot to overthrow the government by illegal means. The plot, known as the “Zero Option Plan,” was said to have been devised by members of the opposing United National Independence Party with support form the governments of both Iraq and Iran. While no real evidence was offered, 26 people were detained by the government under emergency regulations.
(A508) 6/93, 7 pp., $3.00/£1.95
Order online
 
 

Email Human Rights Watch