Khama to grace independence celebrations

. Khama

By CHUSA SICHONE –
BOTSWANA President Ian Khama is expected to grace Zambia’s Independence Day celebrations on October 24 this year.
President Edgar Lungu, meanwhile, is  travels  to Congo Brazzaville to attend the Great Lakes Summit on October 19.
Foreign Affairs Minister Harry Kalaba told journalists at the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport (KKIA) in Lusaka yesterday that President Khama would officiate at Zambia’s Independence anniversary at the invitation of Mr Lungu.
“President Khama is coming because his brother (President Lungu) also had travelled to Botswana to grace the celebrations there, so on a reciprocal basis, President Khama is also coming to celebrate our Independence here,” Mr Kalaba said.
Mr Kalaba reiterated that reciprocal visits by Heads of State and Government was how international politics and diplomacy operated.
Mr Kalaba, who was flanked by Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations Amos Chanda and Zambian High Commissioner to South Africa, Emmanuel Mwamba, said Zambia could not expect to reap where it did not sow.
On President Lungu’s impending visit to Congo Brazzaville, Mr Kalaba said Zambia, being a member of the SADC Defence Politics and Security besides being a member of the Great Lakes Region, topical issues affecting the Democratic Republic of Congo would be tabled at the Summit.
“So someone will ask: ‘The President, again, is travelling?’ Yes, he has to travel because it is in the interest of Zambia,” he said.
Mr Kalaba noted that currently Zambia was hosting more than 5,000 asylum seekers from the DRC and thus President Lungu needed to present such a case, among other issues, to the Great Lakes Summit.
Mr Kalaba said this after he accompanied President Lungu, First Lady Esther Lungu, other Government and Patriotic Front officials, to see off South African President Jacob Zuma and his spouse Bongekile at the KKIA after a two-day State Visit.
The plane carrying the South African First Family left at around 15:35 hours and that was preceded by Mr Zuma being accorded a gun salute before proceeding to inspect a guard of honour.