Pressure mounts for Kaunda’s release

“He’s very weak. I am really fearing for him,” Masheke told the newsmen.Kaunda’s family, party officials and even prison inmates pleaded with him to eat or at least to accept water, he said.

“What can we do but keep vigil?” Masheke said.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Machungwa confirmed Kaunda had been taken to Kabwe but refused to divulge any more details.

The detention of Zambia’s founding father, who led the nation to independence from the British in 1964, came four days after he returned to the country from a lecture tour.

Kaunda was away in October when soldiers seized control of the state radio station and broadcast that they had overthrown Chiluba. Loyalist troops quickly crushed the rebellion.

Kaunda was served with a 28-day detention order on Thursday under a state of emergency declared after the failed coup. Foreign Minister Kelli Walubita said he was a suspect in the coup attempt. Kaunda has repeatedly denied any involvement.

The government refused to officially charge him during a court appearance on Friday. The court hearing was postponed to Monday.

Chiluba’s critics claim the government is using the attempted coup to suppress political Opposition. Police have detained another Opposition leader for more than a month.

South African President Nelson Mandela asked Zambia to either release Kaunda or bring him to trial immediately.

“The detention without trial of political opponents is contrary to the basic principles of a democratic polity, ” he said.

The arrest has also drawn criticism from the United States and the secretary general of the British Commonwealth.

About 90 people, most of them soldiers, have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the failed coup. All have had 28-day detention orders extended indefinitely.

Chiluba ousted Kaunda from 27 years in power in the nation’s first multi-party elections in 1991.