By Isaac Zulu
New Heritage Party leader Chishala Kateka has opposed the proposed establishment of the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) in Zambia.
Kateka, in a statement, has said that establishing such a facility in the country carries serious national security implications for Zambia, which she said will make Zambians unwitting targets of terrorists and other negative forces.
“The New Heritage Party wishes to place on record, its strong misgivings about the announcement by the American General Peter Bailey, that the American and the Zambian Governments have agreed to establish and locate the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM), which is the military command centre for the United States Government against it’s enemies on the African continent, in Zambia. Should this project be implemented, it carries very serious national security implications for our country Zambia, including, but not limited to the fact that our country will be indirectly inheriting the enemies of the USA , and thereby making ourselves unwitting targets for terrorists and other such negative forces,” stated Kateka. “This is against our long standing neutral foreign policy position of non-alignment which has been premised on our being a truly independent sovereign state.”
She wondered what Zambians and Zambia will benefit from the establishment of the AFRICOM in the country, considering the fact that previous Presidents have taken a negative view on this American initiative.
“We would like to remind our fellow Zambians that both the AU, SADC and our previous Presidents have taken a negative view of this American initiative as not being entirely in the best interest of the continent, the region and the nation,” Kateka explained. “This then begs the following questions: Why has this “deal” been struck by the UPND Alliance government barely eight months in office? What are the Americans getting out of it? But even more importantly, how does Zambia and Zambians benefit from this deal?”
She reminded the UPND government that, while in opposition, it insisted on the need to subject important national policies such as contraction of foreign debt to Parliament scrutiny and approval, and wondered why the UPND administration is not taking the same route on the AFRICOM project.
Kateka said that national security is very critical and should be subjected to national discourse by the general public and Parliament.
“May we remind our fellow Zambians that it was the UPND in opposition that insisted that important national foreign policy matters such as contraction of foreign debt could not be left to the Executive alone, but that our sovereign Parliament should scrutinize and approve all such undertakings by the government. National security in our view is even more critical than debt contraction and should there fore be subject to a serious national discourse by the general public and Parliament before a final decision can be reached,” said Kateka. “Fellow Zambians, make no mistake, this is a very grave matter for our country. The UPND is trying to trade in Zambian lives, and as a serious party of patriots we can not and will not allow this matter to pass unchallenged.”
Kateka further demanded that the establishment of the AFRICOM project in Zambia be halted until the government makes full disclosure of the “status of the deal” to the Zambian people for transparency purposes.
“We therefore demand the following: That this AFRICOM office opening be put on hold immediately until the process of wide democratic consultations we have proposed above are exhausted. That the government disclose the full status of this deal to the the Zambians for transparency,” she stated.
And Kateka has implored the Zambian people to petition their members of parliament in order to ensure that this matter is tabled, as a matter of urgency when Parliament resumes.
“Further, we call upon every Zambian to petition their area member of parliament to ensure that this matter is tabled as a matter of urgency at the next session of Parliament when it resumes. The Zambia Center for Inter-Party Dialogue (ZCID) should also convene as a matter of urgency to chart a united path over this important national security situation,” added Kateka.
