The late Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has been buried at a sombre ceremony in the capital, Lusaka. There was a 21-gun salute as his body was lowered into the ground in a copper-plated coffin - Zambia is Africa's biggest copper producer.

The paper aims to provide information on the size, structure and significance of China-Zambia relations. It specifically studies the nature and scope of Chinese investment in Zambia, the pattern and magnitude of trade between China and Zambia.

I am jotting these few lines from the offices of the Centre for Multiparty Democracy-Kenya here in Nairobi. It is almost 16:00 Kenyan time. I have just been informed by Mr. Omweri Angima the CMD-K Program Officer that the centre's Executive Director, Ms. Njeri Kabeberi and Mr. Cyprian Orina Nyamwamu, the Chief Executive Officer of NCEC are currently confined at the Lusaka Airport having been barred entry into Zambia where they were going to attend a conference/meeting convened by Freedom House on the Zimbabwean Crisis. Haron Ndobi the well known human rights lawyer walked into the office and briefed me further on the situation, revealing that he had spoken to Njeri over the phone. Mr. Ndobi in turn called up Kenya's Foreign Affairs minister, Mr Moses Wetangula who has since called the country's High Commissioner to Zambia to give the Kenyan government a full briefing. In the meantime, K24, the 24 hour Nairobi-based television station has carried a live telephone interview with Njeri Kabeberi who basically reiterated that they were barred from entering Zambia.

In terms of details, Njeri Kabeberi and Cyprian Nyamwamu were delegates to a meeting entitled "Civil Society Conference on Transitional Processes in Zimbabwe" organized by Freedom House Southern Africa slated to take place in Lusaka, Zambia from 7th to 9th August, 2008.

Among the participating organizations are the following:

Villagers that have lived in Southern Zambia for over 50 years did not expect to experience 13 straight days of rainfall. In the village of Magoye, houses, food, crop and livestock were all washed away by the floods.

On 30 June 2008, the High Court of Zambia reached a groundbreaking decision in favor of a girl known as R.M. who was raped by her teacher at age 13. International human rights organization Equality Now has been actively involved in advocacy on behalf of R.M. The organization commends Judge Phillip Musonda for his landmark decision, which will have far-reaching implications in ensuring protection for girls from teacher rape and justice for girls who are raped by their teachers, a phenomenon not uncommon in Zambia and other countries.

Levy Mwanawasa, the president of Zambia, is reportedly recieving intensive care treatment in a French hospital, the vice-president said.Rupiah Banda also denied claims on Thursday that Mwanawasa had died. "The president had [a] satisfactory night at the Percy military hospital in France. The news reports ... are not true," Banda said in a statement.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday approved a three-year, 79-million-U.S.-dollar plan to support Zambia's efforts to alleviate poverty and sustain economic growth. The new Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) plan succeeds a previous arrangement successfully completed last year, the IMF said in a press release.

According to the Joint UN Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), there are 33.2 million people worldwide living with HIV. Of those, 15.4 million are women. In Africa, women account for between 59 and 61 per cent of all adults living with HIV. Gender violence is one factor that makes women more vulnerable to infection, and it also hampers treatment.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has begun the voluntary repatriation of Ugandan refugees in Zambia, some of whom have lived in the southern African country for over two decades. The first group of 39 Ugandans, out of a total of 200 settled in the country, were repatriated by commercial flight on 21 May under the terms of a tripartite agreement between the governments of Zambia, Uganda and UNHCR. The programme is expected to run until the end of the year and cost US$210,000.

The United Nations refugee agency has expanded its repatriation operation to the town of Moba in south-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by launching road returns this week from Zambia.

Barely some two months after Malawi and Tanzania suspended maize exports to avoid hunger, Zambia has followed suit suspending white maize exports due to a decline in output after the country was hit by floods, a minister said on Wednesday.

An independent Zambian newspaper, "The Post", was recently released from accusations of interference in a court case involving former Zambia Army defence chiefs who are being tried on allegations of corruption. "The Post" gained a victory when the Magistrates Court dismissed an appeal by former Zambia Air Force (ZAF) commander, Lieutenant General Sande Kayumba, requesting that the magistrate caution editor Fred M'membe over stories about the case published in the newspaper.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has dispatched 58 “schools-in-a-box” to flood-hit areas of Zambia to help pupils whose families have had to flee their homes because of rising waters or whose school buildings have been damaged or destroyed. Each school-in-a-box, which contains enough supplies for 100 children, will be distributed to community and Government schools in Southern, Lusaka and Western provinces, among the regions hardest hit by the recent flooding.

African governments have often praised Chinese investment as the panacea for their infrastructure sectors. Zambia’s experience demonstrates that it is not, writes Peter Bosshard. A Chinese hydropower project on the Kafue River has brought up the whole conundrum of financial problems, environmental impacts, hydro dependency and delays that is typical for large dams.

The Zambia National Women’s Lobby Group (ZNWLG), men’s wing has called on the Government to stiffen the law against defilement and make the offence non-bailable. ZNWLG men network coordinator, Isaiah Munali, said this in an interview in Lusaka recently after a briefing over awareness campaign ahead of the women’s International day.

Neo Simutanyi and Owen Sichone argue that Zambia's Ambassador to Libya, Mbita Chitala was fired for calling on African leaders to consider the immediate establishment of an AU government as opposed to the gradualist approach favored by the Zambian government.

On 31st January 2008 President Levy Mwanawasa dismissed Zambia's ambassador to Libya Mbita Chitala for having written an article entitled "The Federal Union of African States Must be Established Now" published by The Tripoli Post. The article written in a private and personal capacity is alleged to have caused 'untold embarrassment' to President Mwanawasa as it contradicted Zambia's position on the African Union (AU) government. It was further alleged that Chitala's article effectively undermined the candidature of Ambassador Inonge Lewanika who was vying for the post of Chairperson of the AU Commission.

On 7th February, 2008 Foreign Affairs minister Kabinga Pande said that the Zambian government was not opposed to the establishment of a United African States of Africa, but advocated a 'gradual and incremental approach' as opposed to the immediate establishment of an AU government. Further, Pande described Chitala's article as having been 'ill-informed, blatantly mischievous and very undiplomatic'.

It is important to look at Mbita Chitala's ideas on their own merit. People should not be cowed into silence by the fear of being dismissed from their positions by politicians. While it is understandable that President Mwanawasa has the right to hire and fire those he appoints, every human being has the right to think and express their views freely and there is no doubt as to which is the more important human right. It is surprising that Chitala is being forsaken even by some of his close friends who have distanced themselves from him. Some over-zealous ones, such as MMD spokesperson Benny Tetamashimba, have even called for his expulsion from the party. Is that how to treat our free and independent thinkers?

Chitala was fired for calling on African leaders to consider the immediate establishment of an AU government. But there was nothing dramatically new in his argument, it was first made by Kwame Nkrumah and other Pan Africanists long before Africans attained their independence. However, Chitala's article had an angry sense of urgency which many Africans frustrated by the inertia and lack of progress on the continent must be feeling. Indeed when one looks at the crises in Chad, Sudan, Kenya, Somalia and Zimbabwe and reads the critical audit of the AU by Professor Adebayo Adedeji's independent audit review panel one cannot help but feel that African leaders do not take the lives of their fellow citizens seriously enough.

It appears that President Mwanawasa did not accept that Chitala was writing in his own personal capacity and did not hesitate to sack him just as he did with former foreign minister Vernon Mwaanga and former Vice President Nevers Mumba for embarrassing him over foreign policy matters. Since the days of President Kenneth Kaunda, Zambian presidents have jealously monopolized foreign policy matters for fear of provoking hostility from neighbours, foreign powers and to protect their image abroad. It is not surprising therefore that no minister of foreign affairs has ever been allowed to become an authority in international relations, let alone an influential voice. It should be recalled that just before his dismissal Zambia was celebrating Chitala's successful mobilization of over $400 million of direct Libyan investment, in agriculture, tourism and manufacturing. We wonder what is more important to President Mwanawasa, obtaining direct foreign investment from Libya to serve the interest of Zambians or pleasing other heads of state. We are not sure whether Chitala's dismissal enhanced Inonge's chances of election or undermined them. Given the low number of votes Zambia received, it would appear that the country lacks sufficient clout to lobby support across the continent. What is clear is that President Mwanawasa demonstrated that he lacks the spine to defend individual rights of his citizens when they express personal opinions on intellectual issues and can easily be swayed by external forces.

Whatever Chitala's errors in diplomacy, we must not throw away the Pan-African baby with the ceremonial bathwater and we must not let the desire for African unity be championed only by Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi, who now appears to be reverting to Arab nationalism in his frustration with Africa. The issue of an African Union Government was agreed in principle at the July 2007 AU Accra Conference. What now divides African states is the speed of the implementation of this idea. At least seven countries, including Libya, Senegal, Liberia, Ghana, Ethiopia and Chad advocate for the immediate establishment of the AU Government. While the rest of African states led by South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya are for a gradual or snails pace approach. But what is wrong with the immediate establishment of African Union government by those who are ready and willing?

Why should African leaders be content with producing oil for America, copper for China and flowers for Europe? Why is it so difficult to imagine that Zambia might import oil from Angola instead of Kuwait or that Zambian copper can be used to make cables, pipes and sheets for the rest of Africa? African people are tired of being asked to produce visas each time they visit relatives across the colonial border. Does anyone seriously believe countries such as Nigeria can compete against India and China on their own?

Attempting to achieve economic integration before political unity is unsustainable and unworkable because the battle against neocolonialism is above all a political one. Whenever African states form a common market, European powers will always sponsor a competing development community causing duplication of effort and bureaucratic rivalries which do no serve the interests the African people. As it is, the continent is grouped into a myriad of regional economic communities with overlapping memberships and, in some cases, conflicting agendas. It is clear that the limited progress on economic integration in all but a handful of countries reveals the gulf between rhetoric and reality espoused by African leaders. We do not wholly agree with Chitala's proposition when he states in his article that the reasons for some countries, such as South Africa's opposition to political integration was based on the false assumption that they would 'on they their own develop to be sub- imperialist powers.' South Africa, for example, has not succumbed to European pressure on the war against Iraq and regime change in Zimbabwe. But it is true that instead of Africa having one permanent seat in the UN Security Council, we now have Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa and others wanting to be the special ones.

The call for the immediate establishment of the AU Government needs to be supported by all those who want to see African advancement. The argument for a 'gradual and incremental approach' only masks the real reasons for the opposition to the AU Government, which is the desire for personal glory and fame using the excuse of national sovereignty. It cannot be denied that an Africa divided will always play second fiddle, to Europe, America, India and China. Political unity is the only guarantee to Africa's economic success and this will require a political decision.

African leaders' self-interest and narrow nationalism and tribalism has largely been responsible for poverty, hunger and violence in many parts of the continent. We do not agree with Foreign Affairs minister Kabinga Pande's argument that African states, including Zambia, should first 'consult and popularize the concept'. This is an excuse meant to buy time as African leaders are not known to consult their people on any important matter, let alone foreign affairs.

The dismissal and public humiliation of Mbita Chitala despite his efforts to woo direct foreign investment to Zambia demonstrates a lack of appreciation of free and independent thinkers. Having expressed a personal opinion, Chitala did not deserve to be sacked in that manner for simply expressing an intellectual opinion on a matter of continental interest. His views did not affect the country to which he was accredited neither did they undermine Zambia's national interest.

In a democracy one should be free to argue one's case in a logical manner by using intellectual means of persuasion. To dismiss a public official for expressing a personal opinion condemns our public servants to silence and sycophancy and is an affront on the right to think and freedom of conscience. African leaders will need to develop a better appreciation of free and critical thinkers for the good of democracy.

*Neo Simutanyi is based at the Institute of Economic and Social Research, University of Zambia.
**Owen Sichone is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Cape Town.
***Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Three days each week a group of refugees, including men, women and older children, gather in a classroom in Meheba to learn ways to improve their agriculture and small businesses. With most refugees who wanted to repatriate now gone home to Angola, UNHCR and the Zambian government are working – through programmes such as the formation of agricultural cooperatives and a micro-credit scheme – to ensure that remaining refugees are gaining the knowledge and skills to become self-sufficient.

Zambian former president Frederick Chiluba must stand trial on charges of stealing almost half a million dollars from the southern African country while he was its leader, a court ruled on Friday. Magistrate Jones Chinyama set the trial date for Chiluba, who stands charged of theft of public funds with two Lusaka businessmen, for May 5. Chiluba denies any wrongdoing.

Agence-France Presse (AFP) reports that during an address to Zambia’s parliament last month, President Levy Mwanawasa announced the cancellation of tax breaks for mining companies operating in the country’s lucrative copper sector. Calling the present rates “unfair and unbalanced,” the president proposed a new tax regime “in order to bring about equitable distribution of the mineral wealth.” While Zambia’s major copper companies are yet to comment on the new tax regime, AFP reports that the new corporate tax rate is “still lower than the level in other copper producing countries.”

Zambia's open-door investment policy is coming under criticism from rights activists for passing on the real cost of development to the poor, who are being evicted to make way for the new prestige projects. Campaigners describe the victims as 'internally displaced persons' (IDPs) - a description usually applied to people who flee to another part of the country as a result of conflict or disaster.