Africa-Press – Mozambique. President Filipe Nyusi said yesterday that the free and peaceful elections of 12 August, which culminated in the election of Hakainde Hichilema, the seventh president in Zambia’s history, constituted a victory for democracy.
Nyusi, one of the leading guests at Hichilema’s inauguration ceremony, said that the euphoric atmosphere that Zambia was enjoying on the occasion of its new president’s inauguration was actually a celebration of the victory of Zambian democracy.
“I congratulate the Zambian people for having held free and peaceful elections, an act that is a celebration of the victory of democracy,” Nyusi said, at the packed 60,000-seat National Heroes Stadium, the country’s largest sports infrastructure.
In addition to the Mozambican statesman, the ceremony was also attended by the presidents of South Africa, Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, Kenya, Tanzania and DR Congo. Eswatini was represented by its prime minister and Angola by its vice-president.
Zambia, which shares a 450-kilometres land border, principally with the province of Tete, has excellent relations with Mozambique, and was one of the cradles of the country’s independence. It was in Zambia that the Lusaka (national independence) Accords were signed.
