Zambian police on Wednesday arrested seven journalists from the ‘Post’ newspaper in pre-dawn raids on their homes following a front-page article on Tuesday about the country’s military capacity.
Media sources in Lusaka told IRIN that the arrests followed debate in the national assembly on Tuesday during which the Deputy Speaker ordered the Defence Minister to take “appropriate” action against the newspaper for what he called an “unpatriotic” article that laid “bare the country’s military capacity”.
The article was based on interviews with senior military officers who expressed serious reservations about Zambia’s ability to defend itself against Angola, which has accused its neighbour of gun-running on behalf of the rebel UNITA movement. The officers reportedly divulged details of Zambia’s weapons inventory, which the ‘Post’ published.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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