ZAMBIA: Police slammed in new human rights report

U N I T E D N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN)

ZAMBIA: Police slammed in new human rights report

JOHANNESBURG, 9 May (IRIN) - Zambia's human rights record has been slammed
in a new report by a local human rights NGO, with the police coming in for
particular criticism.

Afronet executive director Ngande Mwanajiti told IRIN their newly released
report, entitled 'Zambia Human Rights 2001', found abuses in freedom of
association, freedom of expression and misconduct over the organisation of
last year's election.

It also alleged there was a pattern of political assassinations, and
documented grave human rights abuses by the police.

The report, which covers the period between January and December 2001,
documented at least 20 cases of individuals who had been shot by police or
of people dying in suspicious circumstances in police custody.

It focused on the government's rejection of the recommendations of a
commission into torture by Judge Japhet Banda that was critical of the
police.

Banda had investigated allegations of the torture of soldiers arrested after
a failed coup attempt in 1997. He recommended compensation for victims and
that senior police officers retire. The government of then president
Frederick Chiluba rejected both suggestions. Mwanajiti said the fact that
those implicated remained in public office made it difficult to eliminate
police brutality.

"We are also alarmed at the pattern of political assassinations. Last year
Paul Tembo was shot dead in the early hours of the day he was due to testify
in a misappropriation case which had already found one cabinet minister and
two other people guilty," Mwanajiti said.

Tembo was a former campaign manager for Chiluba but had defected to the
opposition Forum for Democracy and Development shortly before his death.

"Zambians also want to reduce the powers of the president," he said. The
current president [Levy Mwanawasa] is the Minister of Defence and the
Commander in Chief of all the armed forced making him the boss of all
government departments that control law and order."

Freedom of expression and the media was a perennial problem, Mwanajiti
added. Despite a lively independent press, the government tried to cripple
the private media by not advertising in their publications and keeping taxes
high.

The reported also cited lack of access to the media during December's
general election.

"Though the government keeps saying it is committed to improving the
situation of the media it seems reluctant to introduce an Information Act
which will guarantee access to information. At the moment draconian rules
and regulations make it difficult for journalists to operate. Currently they
are demoted or threatened if they don't toe the party line," the Afronet
director alleged.

The report slated the 2001 election which brought Mwanawasa to power. "The
Zambian Electoral Commission was extremely hostile to civic organisations.
One of the main concerns was that at least 200,000 people were excluded
because they didn't have the green citizenship card required to register to
vote," said Mwanajiti.

The European Union and the Carter Centre also condemned the 27 December
election as flawed.

"We are going to use the report to challenge the new government to respond
to issues," Mwanajiti said.

[ENDS]

IRIN-SA
Tel: +27 11 880-4633
Fax: +27 11 447-5472
Email: [email protected]

[This Item is Delivered to the "Africa-English" Service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or
to change your keywords, contact e-mail: [email protected] or Web:
http://www.irinnews.org . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post
this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by commercial
sites requires written IRIN permission.]

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2002