Zambia
Zambia is located in Southern Africa, east of Angola. It is slightly larger than the state of Texas. The population was estimated at 10,462,436 in 2004. Africans comprise almost 99 percent of the population, and Europeans comprise a tiny minority. Between 50 and 75 percent of Zambians are Christian, and 24 to 49 percent are Muslim and Hindu. Dependent on copper exports and a variety of agricultural products, some 85 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. English is the official language, but over 70 indigenous languages are also spoken.
Zambia became a British protectorate through various treaties with African chiefs. Initially divided into administrative territories along chiefdom boundaries, the country was united in 1911 and became known as Northern Rhodesia. By 1960 the British government acknowledged that the days of colonial rule on the continent of Africa were coming to an end, and on October 24, 1964, Northern Rhodesia became the independent state of Zambia.
Kenneth Kaunda (b. 1924), leader of the United National Independence Party (UNIP), became the first president of the newly independent Zambia in 1964. His 27-year reign realized some successes in its early years; however, Kuanda revised the constitution in 1973 to create a one-party state. Prolonged drought, declining prices for copper, the economy's mainstay, and increasing frustration over governmental corruption fueled opposition to Kaunda's regime in the late 1980s, and his one-party state was abolished in October 1991.
Kaunda was succeeded by the Movement for Multiparty Democracy's (MMD) Frederick Chiluba (b. 1943). Chiluba's administration abolished foreign exchange controls, passed new investment laws, set up a stock exchange, and embarked on a privatization program, which at one point was dubbed by the World Bank as the best on the continent. However, a constitution adopted in 1996 solidified the ruling party's power and led to Chiluba's highly contested re-election. Frustrated in reported efforts to change the constitution to allow himself a third term, Chiluba was succeeded by Levy Mwanawasa (b. 1948) in 2002, in another contested election. Mwanawasa launched an extensive anticorruption campaign, which led to the prosecution of former President Chiluba.
Over a dozen political parties maintain a presence in the National Assembly, but after the elections in 2001, it was dominated by the MMD, which held sixty-nine seats, and the UNIP, with forty-nine seats. Kaunda's former party, the UNIP, held thirteen seats. Controversial elections in September 2004 increased the number of seats held by the MMD to seventy-five.
Zambia's legal system is derived from African customary law, English common law, and statutory law. The judicial branch is comprised of a Supreme Court, with justices appointed by the president, and High Courts with limited jurisdiction. There is judicial review of legislative acts in an ad hoc constitutional council. The judiciary is generally regarded as independent, but "hampered by lack of resources, inefficiency, and reports of possible corruption," according the State Department's human rights report on Zambia.
Ongoing efforts with privatization and budget reform have not sufficiently spurred economic growth. Zambia continues to work with the International Monetary Fund on programs to reduce its staggering poverty rate.
Citizens' rights and liberties in Zambia have long been subject to challenges and limitations, largely resulting from the dominance of its political system by strong presidents and their supporting political parties.
(MAP BY MARYLAND CARTOGRAPHICS/THE GALE GROUP)Freedom House in 2004 rated Zambia as a "partly free" country. Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index indicated that corruption continues to be a serious perceived political problem.
Zimbabwe.
Bibliography
Freedom House. "Zambia." Freedom in the World 2004. New York: Freedom House, 2004. <http://www.freedomhouse.org/res earch/freeworld/2004/countryratings/zam bia.htm>.
Holmes, Tim. "The History of Zambia." thezambian.com. <http://www.thezambian.com/histo ry>.
Transparency International. Corruption Perceptions Index 2004. New York: Transparency International, 2004. <http://www.transparency.org/cpi /2004/cpi2004.en.html#cpi2004>.
U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. "Zambia." Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2003. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State, 2003. <http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/ hrrpt/2003/27759.htm>.
"Zambia." CIA World Factbook. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency, 2004. <http://www.cia.gov/cia/publicat ions/factbook/geos/za.html>.
This is the complete article, containing 642 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).
