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Zambia spits fire

Zambia will not use any diplomatic channels to communicate its recent decision to forgive Malawi, arguing emissary Bakili Muluzi and a media statement are enough.

In an exclusive telephone interview on Wednesday, Zambia’s Information, Broadcasting and Tourism Minister Given Lubinda said President Michael Sata does not owe Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika or his government an official communication through diplomatic channels since Sata has stated his position as an aggrieved party.

Malawi, through Minister of Information Patricia Kaliati, is on record saying Lilongwe would wait for official communication, through diplomatic channels, on Sata’s decision to bury the hatchet over his deportation in 2007.

Sata announced he has forgiven Mutharika and his government (over his deportation when he was leader of opposition) at a news conference he addressed with Malawi’s former president Muluzi in Zambia last week.

Muluzi visited Lusaka at the invitation of Sata and indicated he would take advantage of the meeting to ask the Zambian president to forget the past since the two countries have had a strong relationship for a long time.

Said Sata’s information minister: “I advise my brothers and sisters in Malawi not to be dogmatic over this matter. It is a matter of fact that President Sata is the one who is owed an explanation by President Mutharika. It is not the other way round.

“If Mutharika did not find it fit to engage President Sata through diplomatic circles, how does he expect President Sata to use diplomatic channels to say I have forgiven you?

“If they don’t want to accept that, let them say so. President Sata will not write President Mutharika that ‘I have let bygones be bygones’. Why will he insist on that when it was him who humiliated President Sata by bundling him in a car to the border?”

Lubinda said the Malawi Government should state its position as information on the matter was duly communicated through a public statement and Muluzi.

On the other hand, Muluzi is yet to secure an audience with Mutharika.

But Kaliati on Wednesday said the Malawi Government is grateful for the gesture from Lusaka and that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation will follow up the issue with Muluzi.

Said Kaliati: “What we didn’t want was to link up with Zambian Government through the media. We wanted to deal with government to government. So, if they say there will be no official communication, we are grateful.

“What we will do now is to link up with Muluzi. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will link up with Muluzi to get the message and we will take it from there.”

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Kondwani Nankhumwa said government was only waiting for proper procedure in relation to diplomacy.

He argued there was need for Sata to communicate to Mutharika that he has sent Muluzi to convey the message as required by international relations.

Said Nankhumwa: “We cannot just be getting the message from the media. There is need for a line of communication in case there might be complications in the future.

“However, as government, we appreciate if Sata has forgiven [us] as it has been President Bingu wa Mutharika’s wish to sort out the issue once and for all.”

In an interview on Wednesday, Muluzi described government’s demand for communication through diplomatic channel as “an insult and disrespectful to the office of the former president” since Sata had requested him to convey the message.

“There is this news I am hearing that government is waiting for official communication from Zambia on what I did. I feel that is an insult to me. It is an insult because what it means is that I am a liar,” argued Muluzi.

Asked if he has made any attempts to meet Mutharika, the former president said: “I have been in touch with Mutharika’s ADC. In fact, over the weekend, I also phoned him and he said they were at Ndata and would inform me when they are back in Blantyre. I am waiting for the appointment.”

On the court case in which Sata is seeking an explanation for his deportation, his lawyer Ralph Kasambara said the forgiveness message does not affect the court matter.

Kasambara said what has happened after Muluzi’s meeting with Sata is political and that he is pursuing justice through the court system. He said the case is pending judgement.

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