Lusaka - Friday's celebration of Zambian independence took a back seat to campaigning in next week's presidential election, with acting president Rupiah Banda and opposition leader Michael Sata slugging it out to succeed recently deceased leader, Levy Mwanawasa, amid warnings of possible violence. Zambia's army chaplain Colonel James Phiri used the occasion of the country's 44th anniversary of independence from Britain to appeal to the candidates to denounce violence ahead of the October 30 poll.
"Unfortunately our peace is now being threatened by the conduct of politicians who have told lies, engaged in illegal methods and printed insults just to gain votes," Phiri said.
Banda, the candidate of the ruling Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD), campaigned Friday in the town of Kafue, about 40 kilometres south of the capital Lusaka.
Patriotic Front leader Sata was, meanwhile, meeting voters in an emerging mining region in the north-west. Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development (UPND) and Godfrey Miyanda of the Heritage Party are also contesting the vote.
Zambia is Africa's biggest copper producer and the world's biggest cobalt producer. Earlier this week, Central Bank Governor Caleb Fundanga warned of falling copper prices on the back of slackening international demand for commodities due to the financial crisis.
In the last presidential poll in 2006, Sata opposed soaring Chinese investment in the copper industry. But he now promises to safeguard foreign investment, while calling for Chinese firms to hire more workers locally.
Sata has been attracting bigger crowds at his rallies than Banda, who is popular in rural areas, but lacks urban support.
Banda has stressed continuity with Mwanawasa's prudent macroeconomic policies and vowed to promote further exploration in mining.
Banda has also slashed prices for food inputs, cutting the price of fertilizer by 75 per cent and reducing taxes on imported diesel and petrol.
Banda, previously the vice president, became acting president after Mwanawasa died of a stroke on August 19. Mwanawasa's failure to anoint a successor led to a bitter battle for the MMD presidential nomination. Some party members, disappointed at the outcome, have refused to back Banda.
Phiri's warning about violence was a nod to the week of rioting that followed the last elections in 2006, in which Sata initially refused to concede defeat.
Amid fears of ballot rigging, Sata's PF and the UPND have threatened not to accept the outcome of the presidential elections if the MMD emerged victorious.
