ZAMBIA: FORMER PRESIDENT KENNETH KAUNDA ARRESTED

Описание: (25 Dec 1997) English/Nat

The former President of Zambia, Kenneth Kaunda, has been arrested.

Paramilitary police detained the former Zambian leader on Christmas morning after surrounding his house for nearly 3 hours.

He spent an hour at police headquarters before being taken to Kamwala prison.

Paramilitary police took former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda into custody on Christmas morning after surrounding his house for nearly three hours.

The arrest was carried out by 40 paramilitary police armed with AK47 assault rifles.

73-year-old Kaunda was taken to police headquarters in Lusaka in a high-speed convoy of pickup trucks.

About an hour later he was bundled into a car, and the convoy left again, this time for Kamwala prison.

At Kamwala, police formed a cordon to hold back about 500 people gathered outside.

Kaunda, who led the country to independence from Britain in 1964, said the detention didn't make sense.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I asked my lawyer why are there seven of them. They asked why am I being detained. He said this man told you a lie to come in the house. He said they are just going to interview me and then they will bring me back."
SUPER CAPTION: Kenneth Kaunda, Former Zambian President

He waved his trademark white handkerchief at the crowd before disappearing into the prison.

The detention of Zambia's founding father came four days after Kaunda returned to the country from a lengthy lecture tour.

It was believed to be linked to a failed coup attempt in October against President Frederick Chiluba, who defeated Kaunda in the nation's first multi party election in 1991.

Dozens of military officers and troops and one opposition politician have been detained since the failed coup of October 28, when mutinous soldiers took over the state radio station and broadcast that they had toppled Chiluba.

Chiluba declared a state of emergency after loyal soldiers quickly crushed the rebellion.

Under the emergency declaration, police have wide powers to detain people for up to 28 days without charging them.

Extending the detention requires a presidential order.

So far, all of the more than 90 people - most of them soldiers - detained under the emergency declaration have had their detention extended indefinitely beyond 28 days.

A seven-party opposition alliance headed by Kaunda has accused the government of using the coup attempt and state of emergency to crack down on opposition groups.

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