Opposition Calls For Lungu To Address Terrorism Connections

Opposition leaders have called on President Lungu to address the allegations that he financed an-anti government terrorism group in Rwanda.

Patriots for Economic Progress leader Sean Tembo has demanded that President Lungu make an address to the nation, while Enock Tonga of the 3rd Liberation Movement has asked why, of all the heads of state in the world, President Lungu should be the one mentioned by a terrorist group.

It follows the news that the head of the Rwandan rebel group National Liberation Force told a judge at the court of International and Cross-Border Crimes in Nyanza that President Lungu had helped finance rebel factions in the country. 

Major Calixte Nsabimana - aka Major Sankara - is on trial for terrorism and has already admitted to working with other foreign governments against the Kagame regime. 

He claimed that President Lungu promised the NSL $1 million to help oust the current administration. 

President Lungu rejected the claims last week, stating “unequivocally that these allegations are false and must be treated with the contempt they deserve".

However, opposition figures have continued to question the flippancy with which the president has faced these allegations and called on him to address the claims personally. 

In a statement on Wednesday, Mr Tonga asked “Could our Zambian President be a terrorist? Could President Edgar Chagwa Lungu be mistakenly implicated in identity and roots issues? Has President Edgar Chagwa Lungu made so much money as a President of Zambia that now he has nowhere to take the money to, but to fund a rebel leader in foreign land like Rwanda – if indeed the allegations are true?’’ 

Mr Tonga compared the alleged interference in Rwanda to the Nazi Regime of 1933 - 1945, arguing that both governments were capable of exerting influence beyond their immediate borders.