MDC ACTIVIST TELLS OF DETENTION AT LUSAKA SADC

C O N F I D E N T I A L PRETORIA 003069 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/S S. HILL E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/30/2017 TAGS: PREL PHUM ZI SF SUBJECT: MDC ACTIVIST TELLS OF DETENTION AT LUSAKA SADC SUMMIT REF: LUSAKA 945 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Donald Teitelbaum. Reasons 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Zambian security officials arrested and questioned Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Political Liaison Officer Nqobizitha Mlilo at the recent August 16-17 SADC Summit. Mlilo described to POLOFF on August 30 his detention. Mlilo, a recent University of Cape Town graduate, works for Roy Bennett at the MDC office in Johannesburg. ¶2. (C) Mlilo said that Zambian security officials stopped his rental car at approximately 11 a.m. on Friday, August 17, as he attempted to leave the convention center where the Summit was being held. Mlilo was en route to meet with aides to former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda and hoped to set up a press conference with Kaunda and MDC officials later that day. The Zambian security officials initially detained Mlilo at the convention center for four hours before moving him to the central police station. The Zambian officials claimed that Mlilo had a false passport and fake visa, although they never charged him with any crime. They also alleged that Mlilo had obtained press credentials for the SADC Summit even though he was not a journalist. ¶3. (C) Mlilo believes three Zimbabwean security officials, who spoke Ndebele, participated in the interrogation. They focused their questioning on the activities of the MDC regional office in Johannesburg and its sources of funding. They asked specifically about who funded the MDC advocacy trip to Lusaka. (NOTE: USAID, through NDI, funded the travel. END NOTE.) Mlilo said he feigned ignorance, although admitted that he was probably not entitled to press credentials. ¶4. (C) The officials allowed Mlilo to contact his MDC colleagues, who in turn called Arnold Tsunga of the Zimbabwean Lawyers for Human Rights, who was also in Lusaka. Tsunga reached out to Zambian civil society colleagues, who SIPDIS called their Zambian government contacts. The officials released Mlilo at approximately 11 p.m., although they kept his passport, wallet, and computer. (NOTE: Mlilo confirmed that there was nothing on the computer that would link him to his funders. END NOTE) Mlilo returned the next day with Tsunga, and the officials returned Mlilo's belongings. Mlilo SIPDIS believes the Zambian officials were worried the MDC would "cause a fuss." Teitelbaum