President Edgar Lungu has issued a Special Operational Order to the security services to restore law and order in some parts of Lusaka.
President Lungu who is also Commander-in-Chief the Armed Forces issued the order Wednesday afternoon two days after riots targeted at foreign nationals broke out in Lusaka and surrounding areas.
Special Assistant to the President- Press and Public Relations Amos Chanda said the order was specifically designed to stop the recent spate of ritual murders and the resultant rioting in some townships where irresponsible people spread inflammatory rumours against certain nationalities.
He said the operational order will be reviewed tomorrow.
And soldiers from Zambia Army have already taken over patrols in compounds which were characterised by riots and looting of foreign owned shops.
Zambia Police officers who were deployed to these areas have since been withdrawn.
Residents in several compounds rioted on Monday and yesterday on news that a foreigner had been arrested in connection with ritual murders that have rocked the capital city.
Meanwhile, two people were burned to death on Monday during xenophobic violence in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, the police have said in a statement.
The riots started after rumours that Rwandans were behind recent ritual killings in the city.
The police did not give the nationalities of those killed and urged people not to believe “false rumours”.
More than 250 people have been arrested after more than 60 Rwandan-owned shops were looted in two days of violence.
Six people have been murdered since March and their body parts removed.
Rumours circulated that the body parts would be used as charms to ensure success in business.
“No baby or human body parts were found in any fridge belonging to any foreign national. These statements are coming from people with criminal minds to create alarm among the members of the public and justify their criminality,” police spokeswoman Charity Munganga said in a statement.
Thank God Zambia has order and protection than RSA! RSA needs to learn from Zambia.
PLEASE LETS ALL REMEMBER THAT ZAMBIA HAS ALWAYS BEEN A BEACON OF PEACE AND LAND THAT WELCOMES ALLL PEOPLE. THESE DEVELOPMENTS ARE SADDENING AND LEAT ALL CALL FOR CALM WHILE THE RELEVANT AUTHORITIES DO THIER INVESTIGATION. TEFY TWABA FWE BENA ZAMBIA. PLEASE PLEASE LETS STOP THE TARGETING OF OUR BEOTHERS AND SISTERS. THOSE THAT ARE GUILTY WILL FACE THE FULL WRATH OF OUR LAWS ITS WRONG TO GENERALIZE AND SINGLE OUT A SPECIFIC GROUP JUST BECAUSE THEY MAYBE SOME CRIMINAL ELEMENTS THAT COME FROM THE SAME PLACE. LETS ALL CALM DOWN AND LET THE POLICE DO THIER JOB.
There is nothing to learn from SA, we have messed up! We have managed to generalise, and attacked foreighers because of our own hate, poverty and luck of mature thinking…Our legacy has always placed us above others in Africa…this is indeed is a sad chapter in our history and sets us back decades in the eyes of our brothers and sisters on the continent….
The violence in Lusaka is appalling to say the least. Who is buying these body parts did anyone investigate the Nganga who told Mpombo’s son to bring a human head to pass exams? These are the people fuelling rituals! The targeting of Rwandese nationals has underling issues and this government must be careful, what drove out Kaunda was the deadly combination of food shortages and riots!
Which order are you talking about ‘stupid Victor’? Two people burnt alive and the ***** calls this ‘order’!
I want to volunteer to patrol the streets. I have many Rwandan friends and girlfriends.
But guys president Lungu is not fit to zambian president. This guy clearly has no clue what is happening. This riot was best dealt with by police. They should have deployed more police not soldiers. This is just a 2 day riot and we command soldiers. Ummmmm. Now tourists, investers etc will start seen soldiers in the streets with guns. Soldiers are only required when things get out of hand. It looks bad on our country of peace if we have soldiers stopping riotous behavior by citizens they should protect. A soldier is a protector of every citizen free or not free while a police officer protects good citizen from bad citizen.
ARREST BOTH THE RIOT AND RITUAL KILLER CRIMINALS AND BRING THEM TO BOOK. BOTH TYPES OF CRIMINAL MUST BE CONDEMNED BY ALL ZAMBIANS. THEY ARE NOT ACTING IN THE INTEREST OF ANYONE BUT IN THE INTEREST OF THEIR LAZINESS AND CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR. AN ORDER MUST BE PASSED TO FISH OUT ALL THOSE WHO WERE INVOLVED IN THE BURNING OF INNOCENT PEOPLE AND THOSE TENDING TO SHIELD THEM PROSECUTED, TOO, ONCE DISCOVERED. THEY ARE ALL CRIMINALS AND ALL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENTS MUST JUMP AROUND TO CATCH THESE CRIMINALS. ZAMBIA SHOULDN’T BE FOR LAWLESSNESS. MIND YOU, THESE ARE THE MILITIAS BEING TRAINED BY SOME UPND PARTIES.
WHY IS THE IG STILL IN HIS JOB WHEN HIS kanyangu’s have been withdrawn?????
This is PamaFis way of DISRUPTING THIS YEARS ELECTIONS – CREATING A STATE OF EMERGENCY OUT OF NOTHING – gets two organised killings SO THAT THEY CAN FCUKING DEPLOY THE ARMY!! They has been informed by OP that KUYA BEBELE imwe mambala, BUT THEY WILL STOP AT NOTHING!!!
We have Army commanders who will simply respond & deploy by hearing a dog bark in the dead of the night – bu nkusa!! Have they even stopped their whimpering to ask why they are deploying??? Are they out there to enforce a curfew or to collect Forensic evidence???
Zambians OPEN YOUR EYES!! VOTE ZAMBIA FORWARD!! VOTE UPND ON 11/8/2016!!
#Chagwamustfall!!
I thank you!!
As military strategist and informed soldier what the president has don is a miscalculation As commander in chief of the armed forces you don’t deploy soldiers out of the barracks against there own brothers ,sisters,fathers and mothers,but against foreign aggression. Soldiers using the same weapons can turn and point them on you.Since they are all over lsk its difficult to account for there movements and easily flush out the president.This a friendly advice to the head of state.The best thing to do is use Mobile from Kamfinsa or para military from sondela worse still ZNS.Soldiers are tolls.
never thought i would live to see this day
Remember 1990 and before in the Kaunda days, we have lived these days before.
Sorry I meant soldiers are not tolls.
the last photo is a hoax!
Ulichipuba sana iwe !!!
@ Yayaya….Ok….Now you can die
I agree with you. I have examined the uniform, the boots and the head-gear; definitely those are not Zambian soldiers.
Why is the last photo a hoax?
Last photo is a hoax because those are not ZAMBIAN soldiers. That picture was also published by the post on line BUT it is an old on line picture showing some FOREIGN SOLDIERS IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION. SINCE WHEN DID ZAMBIAN SOLDIERS WEAR PATA PATA ON PATROL?
people should stop pointing fingers at Innocent hard working Rwandese while the source of evil is in their own backwardness, communities, churches, backyards…..
The last time Zambia Army was deployed against their own people the result was Mwamba Luchembe. History reloaded.
Finally the COMMANDER has commanded ,this means that police officers get free payments.
The commander says one thing his minister told us that zambia-police-had-deployed-officers-to-end-the-riots-davies-mwila. Mwila has now been exposed as a liar by his boss. Police were not enough
Witchcraft is also practiced in India!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Human sacrifice is practised in many temples of India……That’s Hinduism. Even when new companies are inaugurated they sacrifice humans for prosperity of the company. Why did Zambians only suspect fellow Africans other than any other foreigners???????????????
Sheer jealousy prompted the poverty stricken Zambians who live in slums to commit this heinous crime on Rwandese brothers and sisters.
No such thing in Hinduism You are daydreaming
President Lungu waits until situation gets out of hand when a lot of damage has been made. Where was leadership on day 1 and 2
The church and pastors in particular are the ones who caused problems or at least part of the problem. The preaching that sees demons and devils in every human problem is wrong. All our problems start with wrong thinking leading to wrong beliefs and wrong practices. Yes the possibility of devils are there but demons can do nothing without demonic mind set. Criminals could be killing people and removing body parts for people to think the killings are witchcraft motivated. Where are the so called microscopic prophets to pinpoint these so called ritual murders? Africa needs to wake up and embrace scientific methodologies in their human experience rather than superstition. No matter how much we talk about spirituality, the fact of the matter is simply that we depend more on science and…
IG sure your ZP can’t even stop riots just like they fail to catch criminals but very active at traffic check points to harass innocent motorists. It has to take Zambia army who are not even trained in riot handling.
Instead of firing Kanganja who can send 300 soldiers to a law firm and fail to secure simple compounds Edgar sends soldiers to do police jobs.The sense of judgment of our president is amazing.So soldiers are gonna do Kanganja s job while he continues being well paid?In other nations we would have seen the IG personally supervising the operation.And this tolerance of Kanganja s incompetence is happening in an election year.God help us.
CAN THAT NONSENSE STOP. CAN’T PERPETRATORS BE DEALT WITH IMMEDIATELY. BURNING ANY HUMAN BEING ALIVE IS NO FUN. POLICE SHOULD HAVE BEEN PRO-ACTIVE IMMEDIATELY THIS INCIDENTS STARTED. IF A COUNTRY CANNOT PROTECT PEOPLE FOREIGNERS OR FROM OTHER COUNTRIES IT ISN’T WORTH THE SALT. ANYONE LIVING IN ZAMBIA MUST BE ASSURED OF PROTECTION. POLICE MUST KNOW THAT UPND AS OBVIOUS AND ALL TIME LOSERS IN ELECTIONS WILL BE DOING ANYTHING POSSIBLE TO DISRUPT ELECTIONS. HH HAS A LOT TO LOSE TO CONGLOMERATES HE HAS PROMISED MINES AS USUAL. THIS TIME THEY WILL GO FOR HIS BUSINESSES AND HE CAN’T BARE THE THOUGHT. MOREOVER, NO TONGA WILL BARE GBM TAKING OVER UPND PRESIDENCY. POLICE MUST KNOW ALL THESE COMMON (SENSE) KNOWLEDGE.
JUST THE INSULTS WHICH WERE COMING FROM GBM- POLICE SHOULD HAVE USED THEIR COMMON SENSE TO KNOW WHY AND WHERE THOSE DIRTY WORDS WERE COMING FROM. IN BEMBA THEY SAY, “CIMBWI UKULILA NINSHI PALI UKO ASHINTILILE”. UPND ARE ON DIRTY PLANS. THEY CAN’T WIN THIS YEAR’S ELECTIONS AGAIN. SO TO THEM, NI, “TULEFILILA MU NSENGA”. THERE’S NO PERSON WITH HIS/HER BRAIN IN THE RIGHT POSITION OF THE HEAD WHO WOULD BE ENCOURAGING TRIBALISM/RACISM/REGIONALISM BY VOTING UPND IN POWER. THERE MUST BE SOMETHING WRONG WITH THAT PERSON. THERE’S SOMETHING TERRIBLY WRONG EVEN WITH THOSE WHO HAVE RECENTLY MIGRATED TO UPND. SIMPLE ANALYSIS WILL TELL ONE THAT THEY ARE BROKE, BITTER, FULL OF HATE, DESPERATE OR NON-ENTITIES.
Ulicipuba we mwana wa ndoshi.Am sure even in the U.K upipa fye utukote.No wonder you dont know how to adjust your keyboard to lower case..chi.kala
We are tired of UPND nonsense.let’s talk about something sensible
I agree. This is very important.
Nonsense Magaba!!!
A failed nation is what has become of Zambia. The beauty is there is hope. The hope can be realized if the Zambian people can choose leaders at all levels based on ability, good morals and potential and not on creed,tribe, fake spirituality and charisma.
@Paulo:Which failed nation?we are tired of you in tonga party upnd!!who tells you that your “chuundu chaitwa” chairman hh is our messiah?you shall vote for your tonga god hh alone(since you vote for tribe) while MOST OF US SHALL VOTE FOR GOD FEARING AND HARD WORKING EDGAR LUNGU AND PF A POLITICAL PARTY WHICH HAS DELIVERED A LOT OF DEVELOPMENTAL PROJECTS IN 4 YRS IN POWER!!BRAVO ECL FOR PRESEVING OUR PEACE IN ZAMBIA!!GO PF GO!!
Edgar nimbwa sana.imbwa no mucila pamatako.Imagine harrassing oppositions and lawyers IG sending 1000 cops to surround Mushipe then poor pipo crying day and out then now when situation escalates we nkoko we Edgar u ‘ve to pack most Useless imbecile fool brainless and stupid president Zambia has ever had
@Peter, well noted. These riots followed a trend which police seem to have ignored. First it was the GBM drilling, the ritual murders whose numbers are unprecedented as if someone took advantage, the propaganda document seized at one of the law firms, the warnings by certain political parties that Zambians may rise against government, etc.
The fact that a certain people took advantage of the situation to incite riots and create chaos in Zambia to suit their well documented objectives is clear from the fact that they never succeeded to incite everybody. The majority of the people stood with their government eg those who protected police stations. Okay now police can concentrate on investigating the ritual murders. IG be assured that we don’t subscribe to the claim that police have…
The last photo, our soldiers don’t use such boots . The combat attire is uniform, not the different ones in the last photo. I think I second the one who said the last photo is a hoax.
For decades now since the ’70’s we have had a repeat of these ‘ritual’ murders. It was really bad in one period roughly around ’73-75 or so. I remember grisley newspaper stories of many bodies found in grass areas. Really bad. This phenomena is a Zambian dirty secret. It needs to be solved. We cannot accept these practices in Zambia. As a people we must be besides ourselves against this. It cannot be that no one in Zambia can break open this matter. Maybe we can go international with this. The whole thing has a feeling of organised terrorising of citizens. Honestly, why would they not bury the bodies. They are left out for people to find, it’s deliberate. Consecutive gov’t Authorities need to put a stop to thus. They need to use Goats etc. if they really need to…
IG be assured that we don’t subscribe to the claim that police have failed, you can only do so much, the scale of the chaos requires soldiers for it resembles a well orchestrated plot.
And you dirty drilled cadres don’t bleat out that rubbish about Edgar not taking timely action. He believed that he is ruling a civilised country, little did he realize that a small clique can be so ghastly that spilling blood is nothing to them if they can achieve their objectives. In any case you would have been the first to insult him for using excessive force, for suppressing your freedom of movement and your freedom of expression, which to you means freedom to incite chaos in the nation through riots and freedom to do murder, disguised as ritual murders but they are in fact political calculations to…
@Eddy. Sad you can’t see beyond creed. I am neither Tonga nor Zambian but happened to have lived in the beautiful land of Zambia and fail in love with it. My message still is choose leaders(including corporate leaders and community leaders based on potential and ability to lead). It’s unfortunate that thinking beyond tribe is painful to you. Zambia has great potential and that potential will be realized by Zambians and Zambians only. Have fun Edd.
Two burnt to ashes in a christian nation?
@Humphrey, imwe sure?
There has been a lot of questions and cries about the professional conduct of the IG and the police as whole. At several fora the government in power has come to the defense of the police. It’s sad that the government was not agile enough to realize the short comings of the police until the situation reached this far. Beyond this what will be the game plan to make the police efficient? This is the question the home affairs minister should ask himself.
The reason for these riots is unprecedented in Zambia’s generally peaceful history – thus, it necessitated leadership at the earliest opportunity. A show of firmness and an assurance to the peace abiding residents that they would be protected by all necessary means, would have been expected of the nation’s leader. This should have been by direct live address through radio and television and not statements released to the press by assistants. Leadership lacunae has been exposed in this regard.
Hopefully, high level meetings are being held ‘behind the doors’ to plan sustainable ‘strategies’ that are devoid of any political undertones, but are meant to save and hold the fabric of the nation.
Whats the role of the police force? Were the civilians armed to the teeth?
The other day the police wanted to act proactively you all rose and said it was harrassment. Democracy is a science of the highest order.
Wow ,Zambia a nation of slums ,tribalism and now a war against foreign makwerekweres.
@harold Muna well said. This is a fragile situation which should be treated with an enormous amount of seriousness and firmness. I can read a lot of political undertones on this blog on whose responsible or what the cause may be. Whatever the root cause is must be unearthed and treated with justice. It can be political, spiritual or whatever.
No press conference..what a coward the Lazy Bum Lungu!!
This is what Infitu ni Lungu has come to. It is a sign of failed leadership of Edgar. PF introduced a culture of violence and this is the result. Instead of fighting criminals, Lungu has been dispatching the police including the Para police to fight HH and GBM and innocent lawyer. These soldiers should have been protecting Zambians at Mokambo from the Zaireans or Congolese and not sent to our compounds where the police should have been effective if they were not under PF thumb
Its in d southern african blood…When youths get frustrated about Govt inability to carter for them…They exhume their angers on d nearest black foreigner making money in their land while they keep worshipping d white skin…Shame
Comment: Zambia police is useless. These guys, awe sure…. the only thing they can do is lock innocent students yet they fail to control real situations that needs their service the most. I don’t know the difference between Police and security guards
Maybe another cop lady should be promoted to IG..
Lungu what is this army for a riot what are you thinking. OK people let’s fetch for all the witch doctors from the compounds and question them trust me they should be having answers to this. Pastor preach to do good witch doctors preach of killing others and always put a bad name on people.
Come on Mr President Soldiers are not need. ZP can easily handle this situation. What the hell is happening to this country.
I miss Wazakaza, he would have been in the field coordinating Police operations day and night. In all sincerity fellow Zambians lets come out of political affiliation and with one voice ask the President to write to the Police IG to explain why he thinks he should still remain in his position. The President can not be doing Mr Kanganja’s job. Its not acceptable especially in an election year. Police must be ashamed of themselves. That’s why even in Chalala it had to take recruites to come and rescue citizens from criminals. What do these police officers from Woodlands, Kabwata and Chilenje do. The failure to curb evening thefts in Chalala was clear that Police are just effective on Traffic operations especially with minibuses.
Iam glad President Lungu has issued the operational order to restore peace in Lusaka-having gone through military drills I have no doubt soldiers are the best to bring looting and rioting to an end-we have all seen that the police has failed to maintain order and peace-and I wonder why should any normal thinking person can condemn Mr. Lungu to order soldiers to take over- the opposition should now realise that president Lungu is in control-as a Journalist I covered these unnecessary looting and rioting- it is nothing but just criminal.I couldnt wait more to see soldiers step in. VIVA President Lungu, you have now shown that you are Commander of armed forces and no one should take away that from you-God is with us-all this will come to pass.
Selene-whatever you are called-surely it is not our culture to insult elders-Just wondering how much hate you have for president Lungu surely to shower him such insults-you are simply cursing yourself and children-just be sober,maybe one day your preferred person will lead this country-God will always provide us with a humble leader
ZAMBIA HAS ONE PRESIDENT ONE COMMANDER OF ALL ARMED FORCES.
Interesting
There is more to this than what meets the eye. Two foreigners are killed arising from ritual murders and riots and the President deploys the Army into townships. Has the Police failed to deal with the riots? What are the causes of these ritual murders and the riots? Soldiers are not trained to do Police work. They are trained to shoot and kill. Are we heading to a state emergency? This Is confusing but time will tell.
BRING BACK LIBONGANI
Our hard working Presido has scored another goal against Shonongos who thought they could capitalize on the ritual murders to gain political favour. Desperate lot.
This is bad decision. Why turn on armed soldiers on unarmed civilians. You fail to turn on soldiers who trained to kill to fight armed robbers and poachers and start using them on unarmed citizens and residents. There is no justification for this action and this abuse of soldiers. If soldiers overreact and open fire, again we will start subjecting the same soldiers to criminal prosecutions for offenses like murder, crimes against humanity which the international will be pressing for any time soon. Police are equal to the task and have already quenched the riots.
Even in France and Belgium, troops were sent to the streets. Ba UPND muli bachimbwi
Every military move come with an instruction, soldiers have been sent definitely because the police had challenges .The soldiers are more vigorous than the police and they will definitely work under instruction. killing is another level of training which the police also do.
France and Belgium are using soldiers. if life is be saved use them.
We have too many witch doctors in this a nation that claims (pretends) to base its existence on christian values. Many of these ngangas are from TZ and they daily advertise their umuti in the post with a frontage of cute faces of young ladies. For goodness’ sake these are the very people who are sending for human body parts, having been expelled from TZ for their murderous experiments. About time we put an end to their operation even here in Zambia.
Ba Chalo Nkhanza Do you have date to support your statement that many of these ngangas sre from TZ? In the absence of valid date, it is comments like these that may cause problems.
what is the government doing to ensure the safety of its citizen?coz these ritual killings has been going on for a good time now,the only thing have observed is the so called kafisa catching anyone and give a person a good beating and finally take you to police if they meet outside 22:00 pm up.thats what has been happening here in kanyama , the people have now reacted because the government is paying a blind eye while people are lossing their loved in brutal killings.lets be real here not trying to be smart for nothing lossing a bread winner of a family in such a manner how can you react?????i blame the government for not taking things seriously because they are not the victims………and all those opportunist work hard not stealing and killing.taking advantage of the situation .we are…
I am heartened that there are some sensible and non-racist, non-xenophobic Zambians who pride themselves on having been the most stable country in Africa to date. I sincerely hope that as a foreign national working in Zambia, that Zambia gets over the current troubles without any more violence or hatred being stirred up, and let Zambians set an example to the rest of Africa on peaceful, harmoniously, multicultural and integrated relations between the many different races and nationalities that live and work in this beautiful country, which Zambia has always done so successfully in the past. Looking for blame, seeking out and targeting different nationalities is not the way forward and will benefit no-one in the long run. Vigilante justice has never done anything, but serve to create more…