(HERALD) Sata to boycott Comesa summit over 2007 deportation

Sata to boycott Comesa summit over 2007 deportation
Monday, 10 October 2011 00:00

ZAMBIAN President Michael Sata will not attend the forthcoming Comesa Heads of State summit in Malawi, accusing that country's President Bingu wa Mutharika of failing to apologise for unceremoniously deporting him in 2007. The meeting would have been President Sata's maiden international assignment following his election two weeks ago.

The Zambian leader was arrested in 2007 when he flew to Blantrye to hold talks with that country's former president Mr Bakili Muluzi. He was detained and declared a prohibited immigrant. President Sata was bundled into a vehicle and driven across the country to the Malawi-Zambia border in Chipata.

Malawi did not state reasons for the deportation. President Sata on Saturday rejected an invitation by President wa Mutharika to attend the Comesa Heads of State summit to be held on October 14 and 15.

President wa Mutharika had sent Malawi's ambassador to Zambia Mr David Bandawe with the invitation.

"You are fully aware of the dilemma in which I am with your government. Your government, for no apparent reason, declared me a prohibited immigrant when I went to visit an opposition leader," President Sata told the envoy.

"Your government has not apologised to me or my lawyer in Malawi and therefore I find it extremely difficult to go to Malawi. They bundled me and put me in a Land Rover and brought me back. Your government has not been courageous enough to apologise."

The Zambian leader said he initially thought the Malawi diplomat was bringing him an official apology.

"I thought when you were coming, you were bringing apologies . . . I would have loved to take this first international trip, but the people of Zambia and everybody knows that I was deported from Malawi," he said.

President Sata said he found it difficult to travel to Malawi for fear of possible embarrassment since immigration authorities there still regarded him a prohibited immigrant.

In a statement, Malawi's presidential spokesperson Hetherwick Ntaba said President Sata had been "cleared of the prohibited immigrant status".

"He is an institution, an embodiment of the wishes of the people of Zambia. We can no longer deal with Mr Sata as a person . . ."

"Under such circumstances, the fear of immigration embarrassment in Malawi for President Sata cannot arise in international diplomacy."

President Sata, then in opposition, sued the Malawi government for defamation and wrongful detention. The case is still pending in the courts and judgment is expected to be delivered in a few weeks time.

President Sata will be represented by Vice President Guy Scott, Foreign Affairs Minister Chishimba Kambwili and Commerce Minister Bob Sichinga.

On September 29, Reuters reported that the Malawi government had lifted the entry ban on President Sata, trying to head off a diplomatic spat before hosting the major regional conference.

Prior to the announcement, Zambian media had predicted that Sata would not go to the Comesa Summit because of the way he was treated in 2007.

- Lusaka Times/Reuters/The Herald.