New Zambia ruler's treason warning

Mwanawasa: Analysts say he wants to prove he is his own man

LUSAKA, Zambia -- Zambia's new president has warned protesters planning nationwide street protests that they will be met with "the full force of the law."

As armed riot police patrolled the streets, Levy Mwanawasa said that such protests were bordering on treason.

The 53-year-old lawyer was sworn in as Zambia's third president on Wednesday, after winning less than 30 percent of votes in a contest that the opposition said was marred by vote-rigging.

A legal challenge by 10 opposition parties to block his inauguration failed, and under the constitution they must now wait 14 days before lodging a protest.

Meanwhile Mwanawasa, a protege of outgoing president Frederick Chiluba, set about the task of forming a government.

"I expect to make cabinet announcements on Sunday or Monday," he told Reuters.

VIDEO Levy Mwanawasa is sworn in as new president of Zambia amid allegations of electoral impropriety. (January 3) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   MORE STORIES New president faces internal hurdles    RESOURCES At a glance: Zambia  Provided by: CountryWatch.com

"I intend to make the law the principal guide of the state, not men. Everyone must follow the law and no one will be allowed to circumvent or break it with impunity."

Mwanawasa warned opposition leaders to call off mass demonstrations or face the full force of the law.

The 10 opposition parties have accused the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) of rigging the December 27 polls and took to the streets on Wednesday.

But they have given no specific timetable for their protests.

The opposition leaders criticised Mwanawasa for threatening to clamp down on them, saying if he believed in the rule of law then he understood they had a right to protest at what they saw as his fraudulent election.

"We understand that Mr Mwanawasa has plans to arrest our president General Christon Tembo on trumped-up charges.

"We will not allow our president to be intimidated and will do whatever is necessary to protect him," Fisho Mwale, spokesman for the opposition Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD), told Reuters.

Tembo, a losing candidate in the presidential elections, called on Wednesday for mass action to try to force Mwanawasa out of office.

Street protests greeted the declaration of the election result in Lusaka

Tensions were high on Thursday in the landlocked copper mining state, seen as one of Africa's most stable democracies.

"Police have been put on high alert in all provinces to deal with any cases of lawlessness. We have instructions to deal firmly in all cases," a police spokesman told Reuters.

Paramilitary police were deployed in strategic parts of the capital Lusaka, including diplomatic missions to prevent violence. Dozens of heavily armed riot police also drove around the capital in open vans in a show of force, witnesses said.

Analysts said Mwanawasa's initial pronouncements as head of state, including the denunciation of European Union poll observers, appeared aimed at dispelling perceptions he was a weak leader, a puppet of his predecessor and mentor, former President Frederick Chiluba.

"He wants to emphasise the point that he is his own man. That he is firm, that he is tough and that anyone who wants to take him on will have to expect swift and ruthless action from the security forces," one Western diplomat told Reuters.

Mwanawasa won the election with only 28.7 percent of votes cast. His closest rival, businessman Anderson Mazoka, garnered 26.7 percent of the votes from 148 of 150 constituencies.

European poll observers said the election had "clear, glaring irregularities." The United States, however, said the opposition must produce more specific evidence of vote-rigging.

On Tuesday after the result was announced, shops and offices closed in the capital Lusaka and the copperbelt city of Kitwe after stone-throwing street demonstrations and at least 20 arrests.