The southern African country of Zambia has set a new record - one which no country would wish to hold. The average life expectancy in the country is 33 years - by far the lowest in the world - and it is all due to Aids.

The year 2002 was a year obscured by the questioned integrity of presidential and parliamentary elections of the preceding year, according to The Afronet Zambia Human Rights Report which looks at the realities of human rights promotion, protection and enforcement, as monitored and verified in the year 2002. Most events either directly related to the elections and events at that time or are an indirect offshoot of the electoral contentions still abounding. For information on the Report contact Afronet - Research and Fact Finding, on the email e-mail: [email protected]

Eddie Mupeso, the head of Zambia's state broadcaster, has been arrested and charged with abuse of office. Mupeso is the latest in a long line of high profile public figures held in the country's widening anti-corruption crackdown.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has welcomed a commitment by Zambia to address allegations of widespread sexual abuse of young girls. The international rights group last Thursday reported it had received a letter from the office of President Levy Mwanawasa stating that an inter-ministerial programme would be established to address the issue of sexual abuse.

The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has begun repatriating more than 5,000 Rwandans living in Zambia as refugees, the UN agency reported last Thursday. The first 16 of the refugees arrived in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, aboard a Kenya Airways flight.

- Seven months after Zambia rejected genetically modified foods and banned American transgenic food donations from entering its territory, the Zambian government has developed a National Biosafety and Biotechnology Strategy Plan.

Transparency International, a non- governmental organisation devoted to the promotion of government transparency and accountability, has joined Zambia's anti- corruption crusade. Alfred Chanda, president of Transparency International Zambia (TIZ), has presented the organisation's recommendations on local government reforms to Zambia's Ministry of Local Government and Housing.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has stepped up his anti-corruption crusade by banning cabinet ministers and senior officials from bidding for government contracts, a move cheered by civil society groups.

Church leaders in Zambia on Monday stepped into the fray over the legitimacy of Levy Mwanawasa's presidency, calling for fresh elections to resolve the controversy. "It's been almost two years since President Mwanawasa took power and yet people are still questioning his authority. This is not healthy for national unity. The result of this uncertainty is that many Zambians have adopted a wait-and-see attitude before they commit wholeheartedly to national development projects," said Christian Council of Zambia secretary-general, Reverend Japhet Ndhlovu.

Former Zambian president Frederick Chiluba, charged with 65 counts of theft, last Friday filed a notice of appeal in the Supreme Court to have his trial moved from lower courts to the High Court. The charges relate to his conduct while in office and follow the lifting of his presidential immunity from prosecution by Zambia's parliament.

Allegations of misuse of debt-relief funds have emerged in Zambia, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) told IRIN on Tuesday. Zambia is one of the least developed countries which qualify for the Highly-Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt-relief programme of the IMF and World Bank.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has sacked his deputy information minister, John Mwaimba, for alleged fraud, a government spokesman has said. Mr Mwaimba is alleged to have used a fake title deed as a guarantee in the purchase of $300,000 worth of fertilizer.

The number of orphans in Zambia will rise to nearly one million by the year 2014, UN resident co-ordinator Olubanke King-Akerele has said. And United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) executive director Carol Bellamy has said that the leadership of countries in Southern Africa is "very thin" when it comes to fighting HIV/AIDS.

A government programme to provide anti-AIDS drugs to HIV-positive Zambians had ignored those who needed it most and was simply "a lot of hot air", activists told IRIN. Last year, the government announced that up to 10,000 people living with HIV/AIDS (PWAs) would receive free antiretroviral (ARV) drugs in nine provincial treatment centres. The project would also provide a team consisting of a physician, faith healer, counsellor and social worker in each centre. But the Network of Zambian People Living With HIV/AIDS (NZP+) has expressed concern that PWAs who are poor and powerless, still have no access to treatment.

Global anti-corruption NGO Transparency International (TI) has described the Zambian system of governance as "rotten" in its latest report. The "National Integrity Systems TI Country Study Report - Zambia 2003", delves into the conduct of the executive, legislative and judicial arms of government. The report provides a "devastating analysis of how a government can loot its treasury, corrupt key agencies, distort privatisation and banking processes, and use the resources of the state to fund its dominance of the election process and pay for its retention of power", TI said in a statement.

Heavy rains have destroyed crops and swept away bridges and houses in a hunger-stricken part of Zambia leaving more than 10,000 people homeless, a senior government official said on Wednesday.

A recently launched UN Children's Fund project in Zambia is providing vulnerable population groups in drought-affected areas with HIV/Aids messages of hope. This is part of a collaborative effort to address the explosive combination of acute food shortages and the HIV/Aids epidemic in the country, says UNICEF Zambia Representative, Dr Stella Goings.

The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Monday said details for the voluntary repatriation of up to 200,000 Angolans living in Zambia had been finalised following a meeting involving UNHCR and the two governments last week.

The latest heavy rains in Zambia, while causing localised damage, were good news for those who planted late, says the latest UN Resident Coordinator's report. Zambia has been struggling with food insecurity brought on by drought. The December 2002 vulnerability assessment indicated that 2.7 million people or 28 percent of the population required food aid to survive.

At five-feet tall, former Zambian President Frederick Chiluba, known as Titus Jacob , is on the way to becoming more noticeable than when he lorded over Zambians with impunity. That's because he has quite a tall order: sixty-six counts of corruption and a pursuit of his jugular by President Levy Mwanawasa, who once served as Mr Chiluba's number two.