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Copper-bottomed but leaky

Booming mines and farms, and a government beset by talk of corruption and strange legal decisions

Fuelled by rising world demand for copper and cobalt and by a bumper maize harvest, the economy is growing at a roaring 7.5%. Yet President Rupiah Banda, who will seek re-election next year, faces growing opposition both within the governing Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) and from opposition and civic groups. Part of the opposition seems to stem from nostalgia for his predecessor, the late Levy Mwanawasa, and part from suspicions about his relations with another ex-president, Frederick Chiluba, who has just won a judgment in Lusaka allowing him to keep assets which are widely seen as stolen....

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Free article preview

Copper-bottomed but leaky

Booming mines and farms, and a government beset by talk of corruption and strange legal decisions

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