Zambians are going to the polls to elect a new president to replace Levy Mwanawasa, who died in August after suffering a stroke. The two main contenders in the poll are acting president Rupiah Banda and opposition leader Michael Sata. Police are on high alert for what is expected to be a close vote.
The country’s army commander, Gen Isaac Chisuzi, warned that anyone who tried to incite violence would be dealt with by the army.
In their final rallies on Wednesday, both candidates named economic progress as their top goal.
Mr Banda, a 71-year-old former diplomat who served as vice-president to Mr Mwanawasa, heads the governing Movement For Multi-Party Democracy. He promised to follow in the footsteps of the former leader.
Mr Sata, who leads the opposition Patriotic Front, called on his supporters to sleep outside polling booths to prevent vote rigging. He has vowed to transform Zambia within 90 days of taking office by forcing foreign firms to hand over 25% stakes to local investors.
There are two other candidates: Hakainde Hichilema, of the United Party for National Development and retired army general Godfrey Miyande, of the Heritage Party.
The winner of the election will serve until 2011 – when Mr Mwanawasa’s term would have ended.

The UN says it is deeply concerned about the plight of tens of thousands of people fleeing a rebel advance on Goma in eastern DR Congo. Police are trying to arrest retreating soldiers blamed for causing chaotic scenes in the Congolese city, which was calm but tense early on Thursday.
Oxfam and other aid agencies said they had decided to evacuate international staff from Goma. The UN Security Council urged the rebel leader to implement his ceasefire. An emergency session of the council also expressed alarm over cross-border firing between DR Congo and Rwanda. Many of the population that have fled are staying in vacant schools, in churches and outside Unicef’s Jaya Murthy.
Tutsi rebel CNDP leader Laurent Nkunda, whose forces are just outside Goma, declared a ceasefire on Wednesday night and urged others to do the same.
The Security Council took no action on a request from the country’s mission head, Alan Doss, for temporary reinforcements but said some of its peacekeepers could be redeployed from elsewhere in DR Congo to back up those in Goma.
The UN children’s agency Unicef said the latest bout of fighting had resulted in a “very bad” humanitarian situation. “We’re talking tens of thousands of people who have fled towards Goma and thousands more who are fleeing north to a town called Kane Byunga,” Unicef’s Jaya Murthy told the BBC’s World Today programme.  “Many of the population that have fled are staying in vacant schools, in churches and outside.”
Oxfam said national staff had been advised to stay at home, but it was hoping to resume humanitarian work for more than 65,000 people in Goma’s camps soon.
Overnight, Goma resident Tawite Anthony told the BBC that there were “uncontrolled soldiers who were looting all over the city”. He said he had seen the dead body of one man who had apparently been shot by the police while trying to break into a shop. Some people were fleeing to Rwanda, he said. “Everybody’s afraid of the wars. They are fearing what will happen next.”
The BBC’s Thomas Fessy in Goma said the atmosphere was calm but tense after a night of gunfire and looting. He said he had seen a body with bullet wounds, but was still unclear how many people had been killed or injured overnight.
Thousands of displaced people have been fleeing
Earlier UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for an immediate end to the fighting, which he said was creating a “humanitarian catastrophe”. Mr Ban said he deplored the deliberate targeting of civilians and their use as human shields and said UN peacekeepers were “doing everything possible to protect civilians and fulfil their mandate in untenable circumstances”.
Correspondents say the 17,000-strong UN force in DR Congo – the world’s largest – is stretched to breaking point.
Gen Nkunda told the BBC the goal of his forces was to protect his Tutsi community from attack by Rwandan Hutu rebels, some of whom are accused of taking part in the 1994 genocide.
A peace deal was signed in Goma between the government and various rebel groups at the end of January.
Although he signed the deal, Gen Nkunda has refused to disarm while Rwandan Hutu rebels still operate in the area.
The AP news agency reported Mr Nkunda as saying on Thursday that he wanted direct negotiations with the government about security and his objections to a $5bn (£3.1bn) deal that gives China access to the region’s mineral resources.
Some observers say that the fighting in eastern DR Congo is really over control of resources.
Meanwhile, US assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer said she had no evidence that Rwanda was directly involved in the fighting.
Rwandan Foreign Minister Rosemary Museminali was due to meet Congo’s President Joseph Kabila in Kinshasa on Thursday, AFP news agency reported.

HUNDREDS of refugees continued to troop into Kisoro district in western Uganda yesterday, fleeing heavy fighting in eastern Congo between rebels and the Congolese armed forces backed by UN peacekeepers.
Ejected from their village of Rugarama, the refugees, many loaded with basic luggage on their heads and with babies strapped to their backs, trekked through the night to the Ugandan side of the border, UN agencies said.
The refugees, most of whom are women and children, are temporarily staying at Busanza on the border. Yesterday they said Rugarama, about 17km from Uganda, had fallen into the hands of Laurent Nkunda’s rebel National Congress for the Defence of the People.
“Just a short while ago I saw about 600 refugees walking into this place and they say many more are on the way here,” UNHCR external relations officer Roberta Russo said in a telephone interview from Kisoro yesterday. “Presently we are talking of over 5,000 refugees.”
For the second successive day yesterday, UN peacekeepers used attack helicopters to try and halt a seemingly relentless rebel advance in eastern Congo.
The UN’s largest peacekeeping mission, MONUC, stepped up direct intervention in the conflict as tens of thousands of civilians were displaced by the fighting which surged early on Wednesday as Nkunda’s troops geared up for an assault on Goma.
The clashes centred on Kibumba around 30km north of Goma, where the UN aircraft fired on rebel positions, stalling their advance on the regional capital, and forcing them to retreat to higher ground.
A top aide to Nkunda told AFP the rebels would take Goma, whose population has been swelled by refugees from the fighting, within three days, despite having their progress slowed by the UN attack.
Government forces are blocking roads to Goma from the north, but pulled out in disarray from a second flashpoint further north. The UN was the only force protecting the key administrative town of Rutshuru, after government forces fled the fighting there, Col Samba Tall told AFP.
On the Ugandan side, exhausted refugees trudged into Kisoro at about 1:00pm, adding onto another 4,000 who fled into the country last week.
Russo said the situation was grave and that UNHCR was contemplating setting up camp in Kisoro to monitor the situation. “The refugees don’t want to go to the transit site. They prefer staying in the villages along the border as they want to be close to their homes in the DRC

Kgalema Motlanthe, the deputy leader of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) party, has been sworn in as president, replacing Thabo Mbeki. Correspondents say Mr Motlanthe’s first task will be to ensure a smooth political transition given the talk of feuding and divisions within his party.
He said his focus was continuity as he retained key cabinet figures such as the finance minister, Trevor Manuel. But the controversial health minister was among those he replaced.
Mr Mbeki announced his resignation on Sunday amid claims – which he denies – of political interference in a corruption case against the ANC leader, Jacob Zuma. The departure had led to a flurry of 11 cabinet resignations which caused uncertainty on the markets.
In his first speech as president, Mr Motlanthe vowed that he would “not allow the stability of our democratic order to be compromised”. The ANC veteran won three-quarters of the votes cast by MPs in a secret ballot in parliament in Cape Town earlier on Thursday.
Mr Motlanthe said he was “deeply humbled” by the outcome and would maintain the overall shape of Mr Mbeki’s cabinet. The interim president retained Mr Manuel in his post, recognising his role in leading the nation to sustained growth. “In a turbulent global economy, we will remain true to the policies that have kept South Africa steady, and that have ensured sustained growth,” said Mr Motlanthe. Mr Mbeki’s foreign and minerals ministers were also kept on, but the enterprise minister was replaced. Also demoted was Mr Mbeki’s maverick Health Minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. She had drawn criticism for espousing the value of lemons, garlic and beetroot instead of antiretroviral medicines to combat the spread of Aids in a country with the highest number of infected people in the world. Mrs Tshabalala-Msimang will remain in the cabinet as a minister in the presidency without specific responsibilities.
The new president is seen as a figure who can help ease tensions between supporters of Mr Mbeki and Mr Zuma. He will serve until polls next year, when Mr Zuma is widely expected to become president. Mr Zuma, who is not an MP and so was not eligible to be elected president, watched Thursday’s vote from the public gallery. There were loud cheers in the national assembly as the chief justice announced that Mr Motlanthe had secured 269 of 360 votes cast. His challenger, Joe Seremane, of the opposition Democratic Alliance, got just 50 votes in a parliament heavily-dominated by the ANC. However, there were 41 spoiled papers, suggesting a protest by some parliamentarians, the BBC’s Southern Africa correspondent Peter Biles says.
Mr Motlanthe is a long-serving member of the party hierarchy and a man generally seen as a safe pair of hands, our correspondent says. During the apartheid years, he was imprisoned on Robben Island along with Nelson Mandela. After his release in 1987, he became a top official of the National Union of Mineworkers and then the ANC, although he only became an MP in May this year. Mr Mbeki had been invited to attend the parliamentary session, but declined.
Earlier, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe described Mr Mbeki’s resignation as “devastating”. Mr Mbeki was the key mediator during months of negotiations that recently led to a power-sharing agreement in Zimbabwe. “It’s devastating news that President Mbeki is no longer president… but that is the action of the South African people,” he was quoted as saying by Zimbabwe’s state-run Herald newspaper. “Who are we to judge them? But it is very disturbing.” It is not clear whether Mr Mbeki will continue with his role.
Corruption charges against Mr Zuma were thrown out by a court earlier this month on a legal technicality. It remains unclear whether they will be pressed for a third time. His supporters have long claimed that a series of charges against him were part of a plot to stop him becoming president.

South African President Thabo Mbeki has agreed to resign after the ANC announced that it would remove him from office before the end of his term.
“Following the decision of the national executive committee of the African National Congress to recall President Thabo Mbeki, the president has obliged and will step down after all constitutional requirements have been met,” the presidency said.
The move could collapse the government and prompt early elections.
Mbeki has been mired in accusations that he conspired to undermine ANC leader Jacob Zuma.
“Our movement has been through a trying period and we are determined to heal the rift that might exist. In light of this and after a long and difficult discussion, the ANC has decided to recall the president of the republic before his term of office expires,” ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe told reporters inKempton Park on the East Rand.
“Our decision has been communicated to him,” said Mantashe.
Mantashe said that Mbeki’s reaction to the news was “normal”.
“He didn’t display shock or any depression. He welcomed the news and agreed that he is going to participate in the parliamentary process. If I said he was excited I would be exaggerating.”
Presidency spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga said Mbeki had accepted the decision.
Mantashe said the decision was taken “as an effort to heal and unite the African National Congress”.
Mantashe said the decision was a political way to deal with the implications of Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Chris Nicholson’s ruling that Mbeki may have been involved in a political conspiracy against Zuma.
“The biggest worry of the ANC had been the question of a reversal of the closure of the chapter that the Nicholson judgement seemed to have promised.”
The National Prosecuting Authority’s decision to appeal the judgement had become a worry, said Mantashe.
“If pursued it will continue to be a point of division for the ANC.”
When asked whether a vote had been taken to reach the decision, Mantashe said: “We discussed until we reached a consensus”.
When asked what the reaction would be if other Cabinet ministers were to resign, Mantashe said they were considered “on the one hand, deployees who had mutual respect and commitment to the ANC, but on the other hand they were also individuals”.
Mlambo-Ngcuka stands by her man
Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka will formally hand in her resignation if Mbeki resigns, her spokesperson said on Saturday.
Denzel Taylor said that Mlambo-Ngcuka would hand in her resignation depending on whether Mbeki hands in his resignation.
“I can confirm that the deputy president will resign if the president is asked to step down and resigns accordingly,” Taylor said.
“She was appointed by the president and has served him loyally. She feels that it is the right thing to do.”
‘Political barbarity’
The United Democratic Movement condemned the manner in which the ANC recalled Mbeki, describing it as “an act of political barbarity”.
“To remove the head of state like this is an act of political barbarity that threatens to plunge the country into anarchy,” Bantu Holomisa said in a statement on Saturday.
“Here is a person who has not been accused of any crime, but he is being pushed out of office by a person who faces charges of fraud and corruption.”
Holomisa said the Mbeki legacy, in setting up institutions in the country and on the continent, would be remembered.
“Like any government they have had their flaws and their successes. His legacy will be the institutions that he put in place in the country and on the continent, such as Nepad and the revived African Union.”
The Young Communist League welcomed the ANC’s decision and appealed to Cabinet ministers not to resign.
“As YCL we believe that the ministers owe their allegiance to the Constitution and the citizens of our country, and not to an individual,” national secretary Buti Manamela said.
‘Political solution’
Helen Zille, head of the Democratic Alliance, said the decision meant the ANC’s internal battles had turned into a crisis for South Africa.
“ANC factionalism has long undermined government’s ability to deliver, and it now threatens to destabilise the entire country.”
She said the move was a clear attempt to find a “political solution” to Jacob Zuma’s legal problems.
“Replacing President Mbeki with a Zuma proxy will open the way for them to ensure that he does not have to face a court of law,” she said.
“If Zuma is put above the law it will do more to undermine the Constitution than anything else.”
She said it was “untenable” for Zuma to assume the presidency without being acquitted of corruption charges by a court of law.
“Judge Nicholson’s judgement was not an acquittal.”
Inkatha Freedom Party president Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi said the NEC’s decision represented the biggest challenge to SA since apartheid.
“The decision of the ANC obviously has serious ramifications for the country’s political, economic stability and statecraft. He said history would judge Mbeki as a “towering figure” who consolidated President Nelson Mandela’s remarkable legacy and promoted the notion of an “African Renaissance”.
He said having known Mbeki for nearly 30 years, it was clear to him that “This is a man who cares deeply about South Africa’s developmental challenges, stable economic framework and her place in the world.
“My wife, family and Party join me in wishing President Mbeki and his wife, Zanele, God’s richest blessings and good fortune for their future life together.”
The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania said the ANC’s decision was not in the interest of the country, but was “informed by its desire to preempt the appeal by the National Prosecuting Authority”.
PAC president Letlapa Mphahlel said that although the ANC had the right to deploy and recall party members, the move was informed by the party’s “self-serving narrow interests”.
The Independent Democrats would like a clear indication of how the ANC would deal with the impact of Mbeki’s exit, ID leader Patricia de Lille said.
“We would like to see a clear plan by the ANC to deal with the impact Mbeki’s exit will have on the running of government, service delivery, economic stability and international relations.”
De Lille said it was important to have a plan in place for the “likely departure of some ministers with Mbeki”.
Insiders in the party told the Mail & Guardian that the plan is to replace Mbeki with parliamentary Speaker and ANC chairperson Baleka Mbete, but this will not be done through a parliamentary vote of no-confidence or by impeachment.
Removing Mbeki from the Presidency could rattle investors with whom he is popular because of his pro-business policies. But he has been on thin ice with powerful trade unions and other Zuma supporters, who accuse Mbeki of trying to undermine the man who replaced him as ANC leader.
Fired as Mbeki’s deputy president in 2005 after he was linked to alleged wrongdoing in the multimillion-rand arms deal, Zuma defeated Mbeki in a bitter leadership contest late last year that ended at the ANC’s Polokwane conference in December. Zuma is seen as the front-runner to succeed him as head of state next year.
Mbeki is barred by the Constitution to from a third term as state president.
The move to oust the president picked up speed after Judge Chris Nicholson last week in the Pietermaritzburg High Court ruled that corruption charges against Zuma were not legal, and said there had been high-level meddling in the case.
Zuma’s camp has branded the prosecution a political witch-hunt by Mbeki and his aides.
Mbeki, who has consistently denied he hatched a political conspiracy against Zuma, lashed out at his critics on Friday even as the NEC — which is dominated by Zuma allies — met to discuss his fate.
“It impoverishes our society that some resort to the tactic of advancing allegations with no fact to support these,” the president said in a statement issued by his office. He said he was not involved in the National Prosecuting Authority’s decision to appeal against Nicholson’s ruling.- Reuters, Sapa

Helen Zille, the leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), on Tuesday threatened to consider private prosecution of African National Congress president Jacob Zuma if the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) declines to act further against him.
She also called for a special joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament to allow President Thabo Mbeki to explain his actions, which were criticised in the judgement of Judge Chris Nicholson in Pietermaritzburg last Friday.
The judge declared corruption charges against Zuma invalid because of flawed prosecutorial procedure.
“Unless President Mbeki can satisfactorily explain his conduct before Parliament, he should resign,” Zille said.
She added that the parliamentary leader of the party, Sandra Botha, has written to the speaker requesting that Parliament be reconvened so that Mbeki can explain himself as a matter of urgency.
Zille and her party hierarchy say that Zuma must not be allowed to become president of the country with serious accusations of bribery, fraud, racketeering and money-laundering hanging over him.
“We need to be sure that a court has pronounced him innocent before he assumes that office and, if a court finds him guilty, that he has no chance of assuming that office.
“Because if somebody guilty of such serious corruption charges is in the highest office in this country, then the rot will quickly consolidate itself in the body politic, and it will be a disaster for everybody,” she said.
Zille stressed her party will first wait until the legal process currently under way has played itself out before proceeding. “We need to let the institutions of state work their way through this. If they fail us … that is the point where we have to draw the line.”
While they do not want to be seen to be conducting a vendetta against him, a private prosecution under section 7 of the Criminal Procedure Act would be one way of dealing with the issue.
“Given the prima facie case against Zuma, there appears to be no compelling reason for the NPA not to prosecute,” she said. “This time around, due care must be taken to ensure that Zuma’s rights are not infringed, and that he is given the opportunity afforded by the Constitution to make representations to the NPA. But the prosecution must go ahead.”
The route of a private prosecution, she added, is not her first option, but she insisted: “It would be a miscarriage of justice if Zuma were to get off the hook due to a legal technicality.”
Arms deal inquiry
The DA leader also called again for a judicial commission of inquiry into the arms deal, and she said that on Tuesday morning she wrote personally to the president asking him to appoint a commission urgently.
“If President Mbeki has nothing to hide, there is no reason for him not to appoint a commission of inquiry,” she said. “He certainly has nothing to lose politically.”
Zille called for an end to the commission of inquiry under former speaker Frene Ginwala.
She noted that Nicholson criticised the way that the ministers of justice Penuell Maduna and Brigitte Mabandla undermined the independence of the national director of public prosecutions, and that the judge commented that the suspension of prosecutions chief Vusi Pikoli was “a most ominous move that struck at the core of a crucial state institution”.
“This has an immediate bearing on the Ginwala commission of inquiry into Pikoli’s suspension,” she said, adding: “I believe that the court ruling invalidates the need for the Ginwala commission and that the commission should be abandoned accordingly.”
The method of appointment of the national director of public prosecutions needs to be re-examined, Zille said. She has asked the DA’s constitutional affairs spokesperson, MP Len Joubert, to look at the possibility of setting up a body similar to the Judicial Service Commission to make the appointments.
‘Mbeki won’t be president’
Meanwhile, the ANC Youth League claims that the majority of ANC national executive committee (NEC) members agree that President Thabo Mbeki must be removed from office.
The party’s national working committee was meeting on Monday and Tuesday, with speculation that the implications of Nicholson’s judgement fallout on Mbeki would top the agenda. It is customary for the ANC not to comment during the course of an NWC meeting.
“We have approached individual members of the ANC NEC to ensure that the removal of Thabo Mbeki becomes an ANC NEC resolution this weekend, and the majority of them are agreeing with us on this issue,” said league president Julius Malema at a media briefing in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
“We will have Mbeki removed. We don’t fight to lose. He is going. It doesn’t matter who said what; Mbeki won’t be president when we go to the election. It must be an ANC NEC decision by this weekend,” said Malema.
He denied that Zuma had said Mbeki must remain in office until elections next year.
“I don’t think we are contradicting the president … [but] he will speak on behalf of the NEC on Sunday,” said Malema. — Sapa, I-Net Bridge

Angola’s main opposition party, UNITA, has conceded defeat in last week’s parliamentary elections, after initially demanding a fresh ballot over allegations of poll irregularities.
The former guerrilla movement said “it was not possible” to say the elections had been free and fair, as voting had been extended for an unscheduled second day after 320 centres across the country failed to open on time on 5 September, and in locations where there had been problems with the supply of ballot papers. UNITA also alleged that people had been allowed to vote without proper identification.
But in a news conference on Monday, held shortly after the national electoral commission had dismissed its complaints, UNITA leader Isaías Samakuva said he accepted the outcome of the poll and praised the incumbent MPLA party, hoping it “governs in the interest of all Angolans”.
“After about 80 percent of valid votes have been counted, despite all that has happened, the leadership of UNITA accepts the results of the elections,” Samakuva said. Other opposition parties echoed UNITA’s acceptance of the outcome of Angola’s first elections in 16 years.
As the counting process continues, the MPLA holds a huge lead, scoring close to 82 percent of the vote to UNITA’s 10 percent. If the MPLA manages to win a two-thirds majority in the 220-seat assembly, it will have the power to change the country’s constitution as it sees fit.
International election observers, while accepting the result, have criticised aspects of the poll. An African Union team said although it was free and fair, the MPLA had benefited from unfair access to the state-dominated media. The European Union noted problems with the organisation of the election, but concluded that people had clearly voted massively for the MPLA.
The US Embassy congratulated Angolans “on their participation in this important step in strengthening their democracy” but noted the procedural problems encountered with the ballot, and hoped valuable lessons would be learnt for Angola’s future polls, beginning with next year’s presidential elections.
Angola, independent in 1975, struggled with 27 years of civil war until a peace agreement was signed with then UNITA rebels in 2002. The oil-rich country is now one of the world’s fastest growing economies.

Zambia will hold an election on 30 October to choose a successor to President Levy Mwanawasa, who died in a French military hospital last month.
The poll was announced by the acting President, Rupiah Banda, who will be the candidate of the governing Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD). He is likely to face a strong challenge from opposition leader Michael Sata, who narrowly lost the election in 2006.
Mr Mwanawasa, who had led Zambia since 2001, suffered a stroke in June. Under the constitution, an election must be called within 90 days of the post of president becoming vacant.
Appeal for calm
In a televised speech, Mr Banda said that the conclusion of the official mourning period for Mr Mwanawasa meant the government could now announce the date of the upcoming presidential election.
“Upon the death of our late president, the government immediately began preparations to meet this constitutional requirement and therefore the electoral commission has commenced preparation to hold elections,” he said.
“I appeal to the people of Zambia to remain calm, peaceful, and united during this pre-election period and to conduct campaigns in a clean and dignified manner. I hope campaigning will be based on issues,” he added.
Mr Banda, vice-president under Mr Mwanawasa, was selected last week by the MMD as its candidate for the presidency.
Correspondents say the 72-year-old’s chances have been boosted by a decision by smaller parties to support his candidacy rather than to contest the election.
However, he is expected to be face strong opposition from Michael Sata of the Patriotic Front, and Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development. Both men stood in the 2006 election.

The former Congolese Vice-President, Jean-Pierre Bemba, has appeared at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague for the first time. Mr Bemba, who fled the Democratic Republic of Congo last year, was arrested in Belgium in May.
He is accused of atrocities allegedly committed by his forces during a coup attempt six years ago in the Central African Republic. The former rebel leader has always denied the charges against him.
Correspondents say Mr Bemba appeared at the initial hearing dressed in a dark suit, and waved to his wife in the public gallery as guards led him into the courtroom. He confirmed that he was born in 1962 and gave his profession as “senator”. He also complained about his conditions. “The conditions aren’t the best, not what I had hoped for,” he said.
Coup attempt
Mr Bemba went into exile after being accused of high treason in his home country for refusing to disarm his militia after his defeat in presidential elections in 2006. The successful businessman was one of four vice-presidents in a transitional government in the war-torn African nation between 2003 and 2006. He was leader of a rebel group, the Movement for the Liberation of Congo, which later became a political party.
In 2002, the former president of the Central African Republic, Ange-Felix Patasse, asked Mr Bemba’s group to help put down a coup attempt. While there, Mr Bemba’s forces were accused of widespread rights abuses.
The case comes at a time of crisis for the ICC as the case against another Congolese warlord risks collapse, the BBC’s World Affairs correspondent Mark Doyle reports. On Wednesday, the court ordered the release of Thomas Lubanga, a former militia leader, after judges said he would not be given a fair trial. A prosecution appeal over his release is due to be heard next week.