Zambian Regime Detains AP Reporter

The Zambian government continued to refuse Saturday to acknowledge that it has detained John Edlin, southern Africa correspondent for the Associated Press, who spent his second day in a Lusaka jail.

American, British and Australian diplomats in Lusaka, the Zambian capital, were investigating the matter, but they said they were unable to learn an official reason for Edlin’s detention.

Efforts by the news agency to reach Zambian officials by telephone from Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, and Nairobi, Kenya, were fruitless. Telephone calls either went unanswered or were not returned.

Edlin, who is based in Harare, was arrested Friday. He arrived in Lusaka on Dec. 13 to report on the aftermath of the food riots in which 15 people were killed.

A Zambian journalist visited Edlin on Friday in a Lusaka jail cell, and Edlin told the visitor he did not know the reason for his detention.

Edlin has reported from Africa for 25 years. He is from New Zealand, but the Wellington government does not have a diplomatic mission in Lusaka.

The British and the Australian high commissions, or embassies, became involved at the request of the New Zealand High Commission in Harare. The U.S. Embassy in Lusaka agreed to investigate Edlin’s detention at the request of the Associated Press.