President Mwanawasa has commuted to life imprisonment the death sentences of 97 prisoners who were on death row.

And President Mwanawasa has also released 823  prisoners serving various sentences for various offences across the country.

The prisoners are being released on condition that they do not commit similar
offences during the period up to the respective dates when they would have completed
serving their sentences.

If they should so commit any such offence, then they shall in addition to the
sentence imposed for such offence serve the sentence which is unexpired on the date
of the order of release.

This is according to a statement released to ZANIS in Lusaka today signed by
President Mwanawasa’s Special Assistant for Legal Affiars Darlington Mwape.

President Mwanawasa said in the statement that he had been concerned about the
congestion and the bad state of detention facilities in the country.

He said his government was actively considering ways of making conditions of
detention in prisons humane and bearable.

Mr Mwanawasa  added that the commutation was without prejudice to the right of the
prisoners to appeal for further clemency.

The President  further said government will continue reviewing cases with the view
of recommending them for presidential pardon as a way decongesting detention
facilities in the country.

President Mwanawasa recently asked the Zambia Prison Authorities for a list of
prisoners that he would consider for pardon in line with the provisions of the
republican constitution.

President Levy Mwanawasa has announced that Zambia has made considerable progress in its preparations for the 27th Southern African Development Community(SADC) Heads of State and Government Summit to be held in two weeks time.

Mr Mwanawasa has also pledged to liaise and work with his counterparts in the region
as he assumes the SADC Chairmanship during the Summit in order for the people in the
region to benefit.

President Mwanawasa who paid tribute to the active role that Botswana has continued
to play in SADC was speaking at the banquet held in honour of Botswana President
Festus Mogae at Lusaka’s Inter Continental Hotel this evening.

Mr Mogae is in the country to officially open the Agriculture and Commercial Show
tommorrow.

The President assured  his counterpart from Bostwana that Zambia is determined  and
committed to driving  the SADC agenda forward.

Meanwhile Mr Mwanawasa has urged the two governments to fully exploit the economic
potential through the existing framework of the Joint Permanent Commission.

Mr Mwanawasa said this would lead to the eradication of hunger and poverty and bring
marked improvements in the social economic conditions of people.

President Mwanawasa has since invited the Business Community in Botswana to become
Zambia’s partners under the Zambia Development Agency through which multi facility
economic zones will be set up with the aim of streamlining business activities.

Mr Mwanawasa also urged Zambians to exploit their comparative advantage in
agricutlutre given the abundant arable land, water resources and favourable climatic
conditions to produce agriculture goods and trade with Botswana.

He observed that Botswana and Zambia have been trading partners for a long time
adding that it exports more goods to Zambia than the latter does to Botswana.  He
said this state of affairs  poses an opportunity for Zambian business men and women
to increase the country’s volume of exports to Botswana.

Mr Mwanawasa cited the Zambia Agricultural and Commercial Show as an occassion which
show cases Zambia’s potential to the outside world in the fields of Agriculture and
Commerce, among others saying that by taking advantage of such opportunities the two
countries can derive economic benefits.

He further hailed Botswana for its economic achievements adding that the country had
been an inspiration to countries in the region and beyond and that Botswana’s
economic successes have resulted in uplifting the standards of living  of its
people.

And President Mwanawasa told  the gathering that included First Republican
President, Dr Kenneth Kaunda that Zambia, Botswana and Zimbabwe should expedite the
completion of Kazungula Bridge across Zambezi River.

Mr Mwanawasa stressed that infrastructure development was key to the enhancement of
movement of goods among the three countries and hoped that the completion of
Kazungula Bridge will stimulate increased trade among Zambia, Botswana and Zimbabwe
and in turn impact positively on national development.

Mr Mwanawasa reaffirmed Zambia’s commitment to the Kazungula Project describing the
bridge as a good investment, which for years to come will serve and increase
interaction of the countries.

And visiting Bostwana President, Festus Mogae said Zambia and Botswana enjoy the
most cordial relationship anchored among other things mutual respect and good
neighbourliness.

Mr Mogae said the relations between the two countries have withstood a test of time
and applauded President Mwanawasa and his Government for the manner in which he had
been managing Zambia’s economic policies.

He specifically noted that Mr Mwanawasa’s fight against corruption had won accolades
regionally and internationally adding that Zambia’s continued strides was a great
inspiration.

On the Kazungula project, Mr Mogae expressed delight that he would facilitate its
construction and said once opened, it will stir up vast opportunities for both
Zambia and Botswana.

He added that the project would also contribute greatly to the tourism sectors in
the region.

Among the people that attended the banquet which was punctuated by traditional
dances by the Likumbi Lya Mize traditonal dance troupe and the Army Brass Band was
the Chief Justice Ernest Sakala, Zambia’s Speaker of National Assembly, Amusaa
Mwanamwambwa and Secretary to the Cabinet Joshua Kanganja.  

Others were Cabinet Ministers and their deputies from both countries, Senior
Government officials, diplomats accredited to Zambia and opposition leaders who
included Sikota Wina and Kenny Ngondo.

Mr Mogae who arrived in the country today departs for Botswana tomorrow soon after
opening the Agriculture and Commercial  Show.

Zambia President Levy Mwanawasa held talks on Wednesday with mining union leaders and agreed steps to prevent strikes in the industry after industrial action he said might discourage new investment, officials said.

The country’s mines minister separately announced that the government had drafted a policy that would enable Zambians to buy shares in the vast copper and cobalt mines, the southern African country’s economic lifeblood.

Mwanawasa met Mine Workers Union of Zambia (Muz) leaders at the presidency in a bid to defuse tensions in the copper mines where workers have been demanding higher wages, which some managers of foreign-owned mines have described as “outrageous”.

The demands come as copper mines are making huge profits thanks to a boom in global metals prices.

“We held cordial discussions with the president and presented our views on the recent strikes because sometimes we (unions) are accused of inciting workers to strike. We want to prevent future strikes through dialogue,” Oswell Munyenyembe, secretary of the Muz, told Reuters.

“These (preventive) measures involve all the mines in Zambia,” he said, but declined to give further details.

Munyenyembe said the unions also raised labour problems in mining although Mwanawasa had called the meeting to discuss the recent strike at Kansanshi copper mine, a unit of First Quantum Minerals , where a four-day strike paralysed operations in July.

Mwanawasa’s spokesman, John Musukuma, said Mwanawasa would direct the ministries of mines and labour to look into the labour issues.

“The ministries of mines and minerals development and labour and social security (will) take steps in order to facilitate a process of dialogue between the employees and management in order to avoid a recurrence (of strikes),” Musukuma said in a statement.

Mines minister Kalombo Mwansa told journalists from state media that the government would soon approve a new law to allow Zambians to purchase shares from the copper mines.

Some foreign owned mines such as Mopani Copper Mines (MCM), a unit of First Quantum and Glencore International AG of Switzerland have already indicated they want to list shares on the Lusaka Stock Exchange.

Zambia should reduce annual inflation to five percent in 2007 from 8.2 percent the previous year, aided by higher global metal prices and a domestic food surplus, the central bank said on Tuesday.

Bank of Zambia (BoZ) governor Caleb Fundanga also said the country’s economic indicators were positive ahead of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) review of performance in the third quarter of the year.

Fundanga said inflationary pressures would ease on the back of a build-up in strategic food reserves, exchange rate stability due to increased foreign exchange earnings mainly from copper, as well as lower money supply growth in the first half of the year.

“We should be able to attain the 5.0 percent inflation target because the economic conditions are favourable,” Fundanga told Reuters, warning however that higher world oil prices might add some pressure.

The IMF review will determine whether the global fund endorses a new poverty reduction growth facility (PRGF) when the current $320 million lending programme agreed in June 2004 expires in September.

Zambian officials are optimistic that favourable economic developments in the southern Africa country augur well for a fresh PRGF loan.

Annual inflation quickened to 11.2 percent in July from 11.1 but is expected to progressively slow down in the second half of the year as domestic maize prices decline on improved supply.

Gross domestic product expansion is seen higher at 6.0 percent in 2007 from 5.8 percent the previous year.

In a separate statement, Fundanga said domestic credit declined by 7.7 percent to 5,996 billion Zambian kwacha in the second quarter of 2007, due to a 31.7 percent decline in lending to the central government.

The kwacha currency, which depreciated by 3.0 percent in the first three months of the year, had gained 8.4 percent to 3,904 versus the U.S dollar due to increased supply of foreign exchange on the market during the second quarter, he added.

“The merchandise earnings rose to $1,037.2 million in the second quarter of 2007 from $822.3 million in the first quarter. This was mainly explained by buoyant growth in both metal and non-metal export earnings,” Fundanga said.

The country’s balance of payments surplus had risen to $106.8 million in June from $70.4 million in March, while a $254.9 million trade surplus was recorded, he added.