Zambian police search home of expelled government minister

LUSAKA, Zambia (Reuters) -- Zambian police on Sunday searched the home of former government minister Ben Mwila, who was expelled from the ruling MMD party last month and plans to set up his own opposition party.

"The state is sending a message, but I will not give up," a haggard-looking Mwila told reporters after police found nothing during an 11-hour occupation of his home in a Lusaka suburb.

"What I'm doing is not for myself. It is for Zambians, Zambian children and our future."

About two dozen heavily armed police surrounded Mwila's home at 0100 GMT Sunday (9 a.m. EDT Saturday), saying they had received a tip that illegal firearms, ammunition and stolen goods were inside.

"They have found nothing," Mwila's lawyer Sakwiba Sikota told reporters. Police also searched Mwila's farm 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of Lusaka and found no weapons or stolen goods.

Officers on the scene declined to speak to reporters.

Mwila and 10 others were ejected from President Frederick Chiluba's MMD on July 8 for contravening party regulations, but political analysts saw the expulsion as a bid to thwart Mwila's run for the presidency.

After his expulsion, Mwila said he would form a new party to challenge the MMD in presidential and parliamentary elections in 2001.

Mwila is one of Zambia's wealthiest politicians and was a key financial backer of Chiluba's presidential campaign in 1991, when he defeated founding president Kenneth Kaunda.

He served as defense minister from 1991 to 1997 and then became environment minister, a post he held until his expulsion.

Mwila's relationship with Chiluba became strained after he announced earlier this year that he would stand for president when Chiluba's second and final five-year term ends next year.

Chiluba has said he will not seek to change the constitution to run for a third term, but he has banned debate on his succession within the MMD, fueling speculation that he may be preparing to stay in politics. A private radio station on Sunday quoted Chiluba as saying he knew nothing about the police search and had ordered his vice president to investigate the matter.

Mwila said: "There is nothing I can do to stop this intimidation and harassment. All I can do is ask our people to stop the dictatorship through the ballot box. Otherwise after 2001 you will see a dictatorship as never before."

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