Chiluba to bow out gracefully

Zambian President Frederick Chiluba told the BBC in an interview on Tuesday that he would not stand in the next presidential elections. Chiluba said it would be “unjustified” and “unprincipled” for him to do so after telling the nation he would not.

“I am not going to stand for the next presidential election,” Chiluba told the BBC. Chiluba said he would remain leader of the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) and play a key role in the search for a new candidate to lead the party to elections later this year.

However, according to the BBC, he refused to name his favourite to succeed him. He also pledged not to interfere with his successor and only to remain as party president for a short transition period. “No interference, no holding on to power, it is just a facilitation to see transition taking place,” Chiluba said. With regards to the recent expulsion of high ranking MMD members from the party Chiluba said: “You feel sad that you started together and you reach a point that you begin to call each other ugly names. It was a necessary purge, but it is a sad one”