ZAMBIA
Commonwealth brokers plan to undo treason charges in Zambia
Lusaka — Zambia planned to drop treason charges against the country’s main opposition leader and free him from prison on Monday under a deal brokered by the secretary-general of the Commonwealth, government and legal sources said. United Party for National Development leader Hakainde Hichilema and five others were arrested in April and charged with treason after Hichilema’s convoy failed to make way for President Edgar Lungu’s motorcade. Hichilema’s trial is due to begin on Monday. However, two sources said that the prosecution would apply to the court to discontinue the case. The case has stoked political tensions in Zambia, which is seen as one of Africa’s more stable and functional democracies, following a bruising election in 2016. Commonwealth secretary-general Patricia Scotland visited Zambia last week and told reporters that she met Lungu and Hichilema separately and that the two leaders had agreed to a process of dialogue facilitated by her office. "That process of dialogue,...
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