ZMK

$NA

Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:

$NA

Market value of publicly traded shares:

$4.5 billion (2007)

Currency (code):

Zambian kwacha (ZMK)

Currency code:

Exchange rates:

Zambian kwacha (ZMK) per US dollar - 3,990.2 (2007), 3,601.5 (2006), 4,463.5 (2005), 4,778.9 (2004), 4,733.3 (2003)

Communications
Zambia

Telephones - main lines in use:

91,800 (2007)

Telephones - mobile cellular:

2.639 million (2007)

Telephone system:

general assessment: facilities are aging but still among the best in Sub-Saharan Africa domestic: high-capacity microwave radio relay connects most larger towns and cities; several cellular telephone services in operation and network coverage is improving; Internet service is widely available; very small aperture terminal (VSAT) networks are operated by private firms international: country code - 260; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Indian Ocean and 1 Atlantic Ocean)

Radio broadcast stations:

AM 19, FM 5, shortwave 4 (2001)

Radios:

1.2 million (2001)

Television broadcast stations:

9 (2001)

Televisions:

277,000 (1997)

Internet country code:

.zm

Internet hosts:

7,610 (2008)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):

5 (2001)

Internet users:

500,000 (2007)

Transportation
Zambia

Airports:

107 (2007)

Airports - with paved runways:

total: 9 over 3,047 m: 1 2,438 to 3,047 m: 2 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4 914 to 1,523 m: 2 (2007)

Airports - with unpaved runways:

total: 98 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4 914 to 1,523 m: 64 under 914 m: 29 (2007)

Pipelines:

oil 771 km (2007)

Railways:

total: 2,157 km narrow gauge: 2,157 km 1.067-m gauge note: includes 891 km of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) (2006)

Roadways:

total: 91,440 km paved: 20,117 km unpaved: 71,323 km (2001)

Waterways:

2,250 km (includes Lake Tanganyika and the Zambezi and Luapula rivers) (2005)

Ports and terminals:

Mpulungu

Military
Zambia

Military branches:

Zambian National Defense Force (ZNDF): Zambian Army, Zambian Air
Force, National Service (2008)

Military service age and obligation:

18 years of age for voluntary military service (16 years of age with parental consent); no conscription (2008)

Manpower available for military service:

males age 16-49: 2,678,668 females age 16-49: 2,567,433 (2008 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:

males age 16-49: 1,329,343 females age 16-49: 1,218,114 (2008 est.)

Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:

male: 147,358 female: 146,771 (2008 est.)

Military expenditures:

1.8% of GDP (2005 est.)

Transnational Issues
Zambia

Disputes - international:

in 2004, Zimbabwe dropped objections to plans between Botswana and Zambia to build a bridge over the Zambezi River, thereby de facto recognizing a short, but not clearly delimited, Botswana-Zambia boundary in the river; 42,250 Congolese refugees in Zambia are offered voluntary repatriation in November 2006, most of whom are expected to return in the next two years; Angolan refugees too have been repatriating but 26,450 still remain with 90,000 others from other neighboring states in 2006

Refugees and internally displaced persons:

refugees (country of origin): 42,565 (Angola); 60,874 (Democratic Republic of the Congo); 4,100 (Rwanda) (2007)

Trafficking in persons:

current situation: Zambia is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation; many Zambian child laborers, particularly those in the agriculture, domestic service, and fishing sectors, are also victims of human trafficking; Zambian women, lured by false employment or marriage offers abroad, are trafficked to South Africa via Zimbabwe and to Europe via Malawi for sexual exploitation; Zambia is a transit point for regional trafficking of women and children, particularly from Angola to Namibia and from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to South Africa for agricultural labor tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Zambia is on the Tier 2 Watch List for failing to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking, particularly in regard to its inability to bring alleged traffickers to justice through prosecutions and convictions; unlike 2006, there were no new prosecutions or convictions of alleged traffickers in 2007; government efforts to protect victims of trafficking remained extremely limited throughout the year (2008)

Illicit drugs:

transshipment point for moderate amounts of methaqualone, small amounts of heroin, and cocaine bound for southern Africa and possibly Europe; a poorly developed financial infrastructure coupled with a government commitment to combating money laundering make it an unattractive venue for money launderers; major consumer of cannabis

This page was last updated on 18 December, 2008

@Zimbabwe

Introduction
Zimbabwe

Background:

The UK annexed Southern Rhodesia from the [British] South Africa Company in 1923. A 1961 constitution was formulated that favored whites in power. In 1965 the government unilaterally declared its independence, but the UK did not recognize the act and demanded more complete voting rights for the black African majority in the country (then called Rhodesia). UN sanctions and a guerrilla uprising finally led to free elections in 1979 and independence (as Zimbabwe) in 1980. Robert MUGABE, the nation's first prime minister, has been the country's only ruler (as president since 1987) and has dominated the country's political system since independence. His chaotic land redistribution campaign, which began in 2000, caused an exodus of white farmers, crippled the economy, and ushered in widespread shortages of basic commodities. Ignoring international condemnation, MUGABE rigged the 2002 presidential election to ensure his reelection. The ruling ZANU-PF party used fraud and intimidation to win a two-thirds majority in the March 2005 parliamentary election, allowing it to amend the constitution at will and recreate the Senate, which had been abolished in the late 1980s. In April 2005, Harare embarked on Operation Restore Order, ostensibly an urban rationalization program, which resulted in the destruction of the homes or businesses of 700,000 mostly poor supporters of the opposition. President MUGABE in June 2007 instituted price controls on all basic commodities causing panic buying and leaving store shelves empty for months. General elections held in March 2008 contained irregularities but still amounted to a censure of the ZANU-PF-led government with significant gains in opposition seats in parliament. MDC opposition leader Morgan TSVANGIRAI won the presidential polls, and may have won an out right majority, but official results posted by the Zimbabwe Electoral Committee did not reflect this. In the lead up to a run-off election in late June 2008, considerable violence enacted against opposition party members led to the withdrawal of TSVANGIRAI from the ballot. Extensive evidence of vote tampering and ballot-box stuffing resulted in international condemnation of the process, and calls for the creation of a power-sharing government have been ignored.

Geography
Zimbabwe

Location:

Southern Africa, between South Africa and Zambia

Geographic coordinates: