News Service 191/97

11 NOVEMBER 1997

AI INDEX: AFR 63/14/97

MEDIA ADVISORY

ZAMBIA

REPORT ON FORCIBLE EXILE

13 NOVEMBER 1997

Amnesty International is releasing a new report on forcible exile in Zambia on Thursday 13 November 1997.

The report, Zambia: Forcible exile to suppress dissent (AFR 63/04/97), details how two Zambian opposition politicians were detained, allegedly drugged, driven across the border that Zambia shares with Malawi, and dumped in Malawi.

Amnesty International believes the Government of Zambia deported William Steven Banda and John Lyson Chinula solely because of their political beliefs, and non-violent political activity, and so is calling on the Zambian authorities to allow them to return to Zambia immediately.

The 23-page report contains further descriptions of ethnicity and citizenship as used by the Government of Zambia to harass, intimidate and silence its critics through deportation -- and the threats of deportation. Amnesty International believes this intimidation reflects a broader strategy by the Zambian authorities to abuse the law to intimidate journalists, non-governmental organizations and other critics of the government to suppress their legitimate, non-violent political activity.

The new Amnesty International report contains recommendations to the Government of Zambia on the reform of laws governing immigration and deportations. Such reforms include the creation of mechanisms to make sure that the Zambian laws governing the investigation and determination of citizenship are not used to deprive political opponents of their citizenship in an arbitrary manner in order to facilitate their deportation.

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For a copy of the report, or to schedule an interview with the author of the report, contact Mr Casey Kelso, Researcher at Amnesty International’s International Secretariat, at (44) 171-413-5597, or contact Mr Mark Ogle, Press Officer/Africa, at (44) 171-413-5729/5566.