Zambia regrets British visit cancellation

Zambia spoke on Saturday of its regret at the fact that British Minister of State at the Foreign Office Tony Lloyd has cancelled a proposed visit to Lusaka.

Foreign Minister Sipakeli Walubita said Lloyd had called off the visit because of the detention of former president Kenneth Kaunda without charge, Zambian radio reported on Saturday night.

Lloyd had set a condition by saying he would only visit if the Zambian authorities assured him that he would be able to see Kaunda, Walubita was quoted as saying, and he regretted that the visit was not taking place.

Walubita "assured the international community that Zambia respects the principles of democracy and the rule of law", the radio reported "Mr Walubita said Dr Kaunda will be tried according to the provisions of the laws of Zambia relating to the current state of emergency.

He also said that Britain should treat other countries as equals, and appealed to other countries to adhere to the norms of equality of nations."

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.