Brig.  Gen.  Timothy Kazembe – the death of an officer and a gentleman

GUEST ARTICLE: Brig.Gen. Timothy Kazembe – the death of an officer and a gentleman

By Kellys Kaunda

The period was November 1993 and November 1994. Exactly one year.

Zambia hosted Angola Peace Talks. The Unita Rebel delegation camped at Pamodzi Hotel.

The MPLA delegation at the Holiday Inn now Southern Sun.

The UN secretariat which served as the mediator was at the Intercontinental Hotels.

The mediator was Blondine Beye, a former Malian Foreign Minister.

The secretariat was staffed by Zambian security personnel of which Brig. Gen. Kazembe was a key officer.

I was covering the talks for the Voice of America, VOA.

It was a complex and challenging assignment to cover because the parties to the talks rarely made public statements.

This was a delicate negotiation of a civil war that had been going on since the mid seventies claiming thousands of lives and producing thousands more as refugees.

I learnt about the art of negotiations and what is known as shuttle diplomacy.

It was thus called because the mediator literally shuttled between the Pamodzi Hotel and the Holiday Inn to convey positions and responses until the atmosphere was ripe for face-to-face talks.

I needed to report every day what was going on. It was not easy.

Then, by a stroke of luck, I came to know and gained the confidence of Brig.Gen. Kazembe.

Careful not to compromise his ethical position, he would delicately and gingerly guide me through important developments of the negotiations.

Throughout the duration of the talks, he was my anchor and my guide.

I learnt every technical term associated with the talks and reported them with the accuracy of a security pro.

I fell in love with security issues so much so that when I was in foreign service, I decided, among other things, to study for a masters degree in International Security Studies.

My editor at the VOA gained my confidence because my reporting of the peace talks was not only accurate but timely.

Brig.Gen. Kazembe treated me fondly like his younger brother.

Often he referred to me as “mwaice”, meaning “young man”.

I liked it. It meant that our relationship had passed the test for confidentiality which was necessary for both of us.

Sometimes, we talked about things unrelated to the peace talks.

I learnt of his tour of duty as a Consul General in Lubumbashi (if my memory serves me right. I stand to be corrected).

He showed me a book he had written based on his tour of duty there.

I would want one day to see that book reprinted as literature on diplomacy in Zambia is scanty.

Through my interaction with Brig.General Kazembe, the myth I held about men and women in uniform that the only education they had was the one offered at military training camps was cleared.

A good number of them hold the same qualifications that we civilians have from the same universities we attend.

Their military titles are the only reason they don’t use academic titles.

Contrary to popular views that associate them with brute force, our men and women in uniform are in essence, like Brig.Gen. Kazembe, Officers, gentlemen and women.

Farewell Dr. Kazembe until the trumpet sounds signaling the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on that glorious resurrection morning.