By Hon. Bowman Lusambo
Zambia’s UN vote against Russia: Biggest Diplomatic Blunder
In a historic UN General Assembly vote, 141 nations voted to reprimand Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and demand withdrawal of forces. On the list of the 141 was Zambia.
17 African countries such as Burundi, Senegal, South Sudan, South Africa, Uganda, Mali and Mozambique abstained from voting. Ethiopia did not take part in the voting.
By voting to reprimand Russia, Zambia has made a complete departure from a long standing principle of Non-Aligment that was respected by the international community.
The resolution to reprimand Russia was not presented in good faith. The resolution offered no chance for dialogue, and did not undergo full consultations with the whole membership of the assembly.
The resolution further failed to take full consideration of the history and complexity of the current crisis and failed to highlight the importance of the principle of indivisible security or the urgency of promoting political settlement and stepping up diplomatic efforts. This resolution did not create an environment conducive for diplomacy, dialogue, and mediation.
All these elements are not in line with Zambia’s consistent positions and are at variance with our national foreign policy.
We are however not surprised by the Yes vote because of the men and women running government today. These are clueless and inexperienced people with little understanding of Zambia’s political history and international relations.
Zambia should have been the last nation to want to participate in Western sanctions against Moscow. At the very least, Zambia should have abstained.
We are not in support of war but in diplomacy, there are provisions you can trigger to send a message to your friends when you don’t support their actions publicly. As an independent nation, Zambia should know it’s friends and should do all that it takes to stick by its friends.
These are principles that we don’t expect the Minister of Foreign Affairs to know.
How can you get a boy from Kapiri who barely understands himself and you make him Foreign Affairs Minister? To complicate matters, the Head of State himself has a complex towards appeasing the West.
We wish to remind this government that Zambia was not established in August 2021. Zambia has existed since October 1964 and we have friends and allies who have supported us even during some of our country’s darker times. We will not allow President Hichilema and his clueless Foreign Affairs Minister to turn our country into a diplomatic joke. If the young man from Kapiri can only reduce his ego, he can go and sit at the feet of Dr Vernon Mwaanga to learn how to run Zambia’s foreign policy before he brings conflict here.
Beyond this point, both the President and his Foreign Affairs Minister do not have the capacity to undertake steps to repair our relationship with Russia and the day that Moscow starts sending back all our students studying in that country, we will take the students to New Kasama and Kapiri.
