Zambia

Zambia goes to the polls on Thursday to vote for a new president and member of the National Assembly. The vote comes at a challenging time for the copper-rich nation, which is currently struggling with a serious economic crisis on top of political tensions and severe coronavirus restrictions. There are 16 names on the ballot papers for the president, but the race is expected to be a close head-to-head between incumbent Edgar Lungu of the Patriotic Front (PF) and main opposition candidate Hakainde…

The Zambians, the only representatives of Africa in the women's soccer tournament at the Olympics in Tokyo, drew against China (4-4), this Saturday 24 July in Miyagi. They had marked the spirits on Thursday by being victim for the Dutch reason (10-3) the first day of the group stage of the women's soccer tournament. This time,…

In Zambia, the Supreme Court rejects the appeal lodged by one of Kenneth Kaunda's sons in his waiver to the government over the location of the funeral of the father of independence. The judge decided to authorize the funeral of Kenneth Kaunda on Wednesday, July 7, in the cemetery of the former heads of state, in Embassy Park, opposite the government seat. The day before, family members had requested…

Former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda is due to be buried next Wednesday. At the podium, this Friday 2 July, the current president Edgar Lungu was whistled during his speech. Zambia is organizing a one-and-a-half-month presidential election in a tense climate "on the brink of a human rights crisis", according to Amnesty International, which criticizes the repressive methods of the six-year-old head of…

As Africa continues to lag behind in the global COVID-19 vaccination race, the continent faces a dangerous resurgence of coronavirus, with deaths and hospital admissions reaching record levels. With just under 5.3 million reported cases and about 139,000 deaths among its nearly 1.3 billion people, Africa is still the world's least affected continent after Oceania, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP). So far, African countries have been spared disasters comparable to Brazil or India. But the…

Zambia has declared 21 days of national mourning following the death of father Kenneth Kaunda on Thursday at the age of 97. And tributes follow each other from especially southern Africa. Like Zambia, South Africa has declared a period of national mourning: ten days of immediate effect in memory, says Cyril Ramaphosa, of…

The Zambian government on Thursday announced the death at the age of 97 of the country's first president, Kenneth Kaunda, the father of the independence of the former British protectorate, which he led for 27 years. He was nicknamed "African Gandhi" for his non-violent activism. Kenneth Kaunda led the former northern Rhodesia to bloodless independence in 1964. He "died peacefully" at 2.30pm (12.30pm GMT) in hospital, said Secretary of State Simon Miti on Thursday. National mourning for 21 days has been declared. The…

The Gemfields group has announced the reopening of the Kagem emerald mine, one of the largest in the world. Closed for a year due to a pandemic, activity resumes at a time when the price of small green stones is starting to rise. Emerald from the Kagem mine is expected to return to the trading market this week. They will…

After failing to fulfill $ 42.5 million attributable to its Western collectors in October, Zambia acknowledges that it has critical money flows, however says it's not in chapter. Lusaka explains that they intentionally selected to not substitute any donor. "All collectors needs to be handled pretty," mentioned Zambia's central…

African countries and their creditors have their eyes set on Zambia, which in the coming weeks could become the first defaulted country since the Covid-19 crisis. Lusaka this week asked its creditors to postpone the deadlines for a tranche of three billion euros of loans in Eurobonds. At the same time, Zambia is reluctant to settle arrears of payments to its Chinese creditors. If there is no agreement, the country says it will no longer be able to pay its debt. The Zambian case highlights the inadequacy of the measures…