Ex-Zambian Leader Kaunda Imprisoned Without Charges

Former President Kenneth D. Kaunda was sent to prison Thursday after a three-hour standoff with heavily armed paramilitary police at his home early Christmas morning.

Kaunda, 73, promptly began a hunger strike to protest his 28-day detainment without charges, which is permitted under a state of emergency declared by his successor, President Frederick Chiluba.

Kaunda’s incarceration was believed linked to a failed coup attempt Oct. 28 against Chiluba, who ousted Kaunda after 27 years in power in the nation’s first multi-party election in 1991. Critics say Chiluba is using the state of emergency to clamp down on political opposition in this southern African nation.

Kaunda went to police headquarters for questioning after about 40 heavily armed paramilitary police surrounded his suburban Lusaka house at dawn. After an hour there, Kaunda was hustled into another vehicle and taken to Kamwala prison, where police formed a cordon to hold back about 500 supporters.

“I have been detained for 28 days. I don’t know why,” Kaunda told reporters before being driven to Kamwala.

“Police said they wanted to ask him a few questions, and we agreed to go with them,” said Sacika Sitwala, a lawyer for Kaunda’s opposition United National Independence Party. “When we arrived, they suddenly started reading a detention order.”

Sitwala accused police of “a breach of trust” in detaining Kaunda, who has insisted that he knew nothing about the coup attempt.

On Thursday in Lusaka, the capital, police stood guard along main streets in an unusual display of force.

Wezi Kaunda, the former president’s eldest son, said his father would refuse to eat until he is brought to court or faces specific charges. According to Wezi, his father is a vegetarian.

The detention of Zambia’s founding father, who led the nation to independence from the British in 1964, came four days after he returned to the country from a lengthy lecture tour. Supporters had expressed fears of his arrest.

Kaunda was away when mutinous soldiers seized control of the state radio station Oct. 28 and broadcast that they had overthrown Chiluba. Loyal troops quickly crushed the rebellion, and Chiluba declared the state of emergency.