News / Africa
Zambia rubbishes claims of Zim soldiers
26 Aug 2011 at 10:15hrs | Views
Zambia State House has rubbished claims by the Patriotic Front (PF) and particularly its parliamentary candidate for Kanyama Constituency Gerry Chanda that President Rupiah Banda has brought soldiers and police officers from Zimbabwe into Zambia to police the forthcoming
elections.
In a statement released in Lusaka yesterday, special assistant to the Zambian president for Press and public relations Dickson Jere said Colonel Chanda should State clearly where the Zimbabwean soldiers and police officers were being accommodated as alleged.
He said Col Chanda was free to take all civil society groups, elections observers and indeed the media to show them where these officers were. Mr Jere said the allegations that the said soldiers and police officers were already in Zambia at the invitation of President Banda were false as no foreign soldiers or police officers were on Zambian soil for purposes of the elections.
"This is a blatant lie irresponsibly peddled before the entire nation. The PF should visit the Zimbabwean embassy in Lusaka or indeed the Zimbabwean government to verify the claims," he said.
Mr Jere said at no time has President Banda invited any foreign forces to help in maintaining peace and security towards the elections and that there was no need for that because Zambia had adequate men and women to take charge of the nation's integrity and sovereignty as had always been the case with all past elections since 1964.
Mr Jere said the president as Commander-in-Chief had total confidence in the well-trained and well-experienced defence and security apparatus of Zambia, which makes foreign assistance unwarranted. He advised the PF to avoid taking wild and speculative rumours as Gospel truth but take time to establish the veracity of alleged facts. "The president wants to repeat his recent appeals that defence and security forces in the country be left out of the on-going election campaigns," he said.
In a statement released in Lusaka yesterday, special assistant to the Zambian president for Press and public relations Dickson Jere said Colonel Chanda should State clearly where the Zimbabwean soldiers and police officers were being accommodated as alleged.
He said Col Chanda was free to take all civil society groups, elections observers and indeed the media to show them where these officers were. Mr Jere said the allegations that the said soldiers and police officers were already in Zambia at the invitation of President Banda were false as no foreign soldiers or police officers were on Zambian soil for purposes of the elections.
Mr Jere said at no time has President Banda invited any foreign forces to help in maintaining peace and security towards the elections and that there was no need for that because Zambia had adequate men and women to take charge of the nation's integrity and sovereignty as had always been the case with all past elections since 1964.
Mr Jere said the president as Commander-in-Chief had total confidence in the well-trained and well-experienced defence and security apparatus of Zambia, which makes foreign assistance unwarranted. He advised the PF to avoid taking wild and speculative rumours as Gospel truth but take time to establish the veracity of alleged facts. "The president wants to repeat his recent appeals that defence and security forces in the country be left out of the on-going election campaigns," he said.
Source - times
