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Linda Thomas-Greenfield

LUSAKA. — Zambian President Edgar Lungu has reportedly cancelled a high-profile meeting with US Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

This was after President Lungu learnt that she intended to discuss issues that included violations of press freedom, infringements on democratic rights and an upsurge in state-sponsored political violence in the build-up to Zambia’s August 11 presidential elections.

Zambian private media reports said that after being snubbed by President Lungu, the US diplomat held a press conference where she raised several Zambian issues of concern to the US ahead of her departure to Botswana, where she met Vice-President Mokgweetsi Masisi to discuss bilateral ties and “issues of common concern” late on Wednesday.

Thomas-Greenfield was scheduled to meet President Lungu, government officials, opposition party leaders, civil society leaders, wildlife and tourism experts and young Zambians who recently benefited from the Mandela Washington Fellowship program.

She was also scheduled to meet Fred Mmembe, the editor-in-chief of the privately owned Post Newspapers, but the meeting did not take place as Mmembe was arrested a few hours earlier.

The US and several other European embassies in Lusaka criticised the closure of the paper by the state over unpaid taxes over a week ago as an attempt to muzzle its critical coverage of the government ahead of the August elections. The criticism has angered Lusaka, which responded by summoning all foreign diplomats to a meeting in which President Lungu challenged all foreign embassies sympathetic to The Post to stop criticising the closure and pay up its tax arrears instead.

“The US diplomat had fruitful meetings with leading opposition figures who include Hakainde Hichilema, president of the United Party for National Development (UPND). She was also scheduled to meet Post Newspaper editor-in-chief Fred M’membe, but M’membe was arrested hours before the planned meeting. In fact, one reason for M’membe’s arrest was to prevent him from meeting the American diplomats,” a source, who declined to be identified told the Zambian Watchdog.

A US embassy statement said in her remarks at the press conference,Thomas-Grenfield said: “The August 11 elections matter to the United States government, the region, international community, as well as the Zambian people. Zambia has built itself a democratic tradition that should be jealously and courageously guarded. Zambia’s reputation is on the line during this pre-election period and on August 11. The August 11 elections must be free, transparent and credible.” — The Citizen/ANA.