REPUBLIC OF ZAMBIA Official name: Repuiblic of Zambia Location: Southern Africa International organisations: The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, The African Union, The Commonwealth of Nations, The Non-Aligned Movement, The United Nations, The World Trade Organisation Borders: Angola, Botswana, Congo (Democratic Republic), Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zimbabwe Coastline: None Land area: 752,614 Km2 Population: 9,900,000

Ethnicity: Almost the entire population is of African Bantu stock. The largest groups are the Bemba (34%), Tonga (16%), Malawi (14%) and Lozi (9%).
Languages: English is the official language and is widely understood. Various African languages are spoken corresponding to the ethnic groups listed above.
Religion: Christian 70%, indigenous beliefs 20%, Moslem 10%.
Form of government: Presidential democratic republic. Zambia is divided into 9 provinces.
Capital: Lusaka
Constitution: The Constitution of the Republic of Zambia came into effect on 2 August 1991.
Head of state: The President, elected by direct universal suffrage for a five-year term.
Head of government: The President, who appoints all ministers.
Legislature: Zambia has a unicameral legislature. The National Assembly has 159 members, 150 elected for five-year terms from single-member constituencies and nine appointed members.
Electoral authority: The Election Commission of Zambia administers national elections.
Freedom House rating: Political Rights 4, Civil Liberties 4
(Freedom House notes that Zambia's political rights rating has improved during 2002.)

Political history

British expansion in South Africa brought British agents into the Zambezia area, where there were no powerful African states, in the 1880s, and the area was annexed in 1900 as the colony of Northern Rhodesia. The expanding copper industry brought a large white settler population into the country. In 1953 the country joined the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, under white minority rule. African resistance to the federation was led by the United National Independence Party of Kenneth Kaunda. In 1963 the British accepted that the federation was unviable without African support and Zambia became independent in 1964. There was little opposition to Kaunda's party and in 1972 Zambia became a one-party socialist state. Although Kaunda was widely respected internationally, his rule became increasingly authoritarian and his economic policies had predictable consequences.

In 1991, to his credit, Kaunda allowed a return to multi-party politics, and held presidential elections, in which he was defeated. His successor, Frederick Chiluba, liberalised the economy but tried to violate the Constitution by seeking a third term in 2002. He failed in this attempt and was succeeded by Levy Mwanawasa.

The dominant party in Zambia is the Movement for Multy-party Democracy, which began as an opposition movement but is now entrenched in power. It is opposed by the liberal United Party for National Development and Forum for Democracy and Development, and by the socialist former ruling party, the United National Independence Party.

Human Rights Watch's 2000 Report on Zambia commented that although "the situation in Zambia improved over the year... abuses of freedom of assembly and association, freedom of expression, and the government's lack of action against torture undermined the more meaningful economic reforms." Since 2000 Zambia's human rights record has improved. Amnesty International's 2002 Report on Zambia, however, noted many continuing problems, including allegations torture against police.