The recent jailing without charge of former President Kenneth D. Kaunda, and his subsequent release and confinement under house arrest , caps several months of political skirmishes, including an apparent assassination attempt against Kaunda and an unsuccessful coup.
Although analysts agree that events do not yet warrant concern that Zambia could be descending into the kind of civil strife that has ravaged several other African nations, it is clear that the country's political stability is becoming increasingly shaky.
''You really do have a very strong democratic institution here,'' said a diplomatic source. ''But what is alarming in the last few months is the strong evidence that this might be slipping.''
Chiluba's promises of democracy and a free-market economy were eagerly embraced when he was elected in 1991, ending the 27-year rule of Kaunda, who had led Zambia to independence from Britain in 1964.
But doubts about his commitment to fairness were raised after he introduced legislation that barred Kaunda from participating in last year's presidential race -- which Chiluba subsequently won. Later in the year, Kaunda was slightly wounded by a bullet that many observers say was meant to kill him.
Analysts say that when a group of junior military officers tried to oust Chiluba in October, he had the chance to capitalize on the widespread public disapproval of the coup attempt by showing that the government was still bent on adhering to democratic principles.
Instead, he stepped up repressive measures and jailed 90 suspects -- mainly military officers, who have not been formally charged. The 73-year-old Kaunda, who was out of the country during the failed putsch, was also arrested on suspicion of involvement in the coup attempt.
Government officials defend the move. ''The country was seriously traumatized by the coup,'' argued Richard Sakaka, Chiluba's special assistant. ''If it had succeeded, this country would have been seriously dislocated. People should not lose sight of the fact that this was a criminal offense.''
But observers say Chiluba's intense reaction to challenges to his authority indicates that he is copying other leaders in the region -- such as Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi and Congolese President Laurent Kabila -- who appear to crack down on dissenters not just to maintain order but to ensure their political advantage.
''Since the last election, things have been moving in a more ominous direction in Zambia,'' said Adotei Akwei of the human rights watchdog group Amnesty International. ''(Chiluba's) government has, unfortunately, seen the model of very strong African leaders in the region ... and has said that this is what we have to do to be among this new level of leadership.''
Kaunda's supporters say the veteran statesman's house arrest is worse than jail because of the conditions that have been imposed.
Phone service to his home has been cut; all relatives, except Kaunda's wife, have been ordered to leave the home; no one is allowed within 100 yards of the property; and Kaunda has been banned from political activities and from talking to the media.
''The government lives in great fear of Dr. Kaunda,'' said Tiyaonse Kabwe, a senior official in the Kaunda camp. ''They feel threatened, because they look at him as the only other person who can challenge them and defeat them.''
While Kaunda is revered as an elder statesman, his level of support remains unclear. Most Zambia poll-watchers agree that even if he had participated in the election last year, he probably would not have won.
By concentrating its energies on the activities of a fading, aging politician, and promoting suppression over tolerance, analysts say, Zambia's government risks scaring away investors and undermining its much-praised economic progress.
''There is too much at stake with Zambia's reputation, and with democracy in Zambia,'' said Richard Sklar, a retired UCLA political science professor and a Zambia specialist. ''All of those who think and care about Zambia hope that the government will acquit itself in this (Kaunda) matter, and bring it to an honorable conclusion that is seen to show the world that justice has been done.''
Crowds flashed ''V'' for victory signs and handed Kenneth Kaunda a bouquet of red and yellow roses when he appeared for a court hearing.
''Bitter men do bitter things,'' the former president said. ''Let us fight this peacefully. We are bound to win.''
Scores of supporters, singing ''Viva Kaunda'' and waving banners, were outnumbered by police outside the Lusaka High Court.
As they yelled ''Down with corruption,'' Kaunda waved his trademark white handkerchief and declared it was not he but the government that was on trial.
Kaunda, 73, has denied involvement in the Oct. 28 coup attempt by junior military officers that was quickly crushed by loyal troops.
Judge James Mutale said he will rule Tuesday on an application to force the government to either charge Kaunda or free him.
Kaunda led the southern African nation to independence from Britain in 1964 and became known for his leadership of black African opposition to South African apartheid. He lost to Frederick Chiluba in the nation's first multiparty elections in 1991.
Kaunda's lawyers also demanded an easing of the terms of Kaunda's house arrest and that he be charged and tried quickly, or released.
Since being freed from prison Wednesday, Kaunda's Lusaka home has been sealed off by paramilitary police, his phone cut off and he has been banned from political activities and contacts with the media. Razor wire surrounds his house and he is allowed only two visitors a week.
Britain, meanwhile, canceled Foreign Office Minister Tony Lloyd's trip to Zambia to protest the government's actions against Kaunda.
Police said the man regarded as the father of Zambia's independence would be allowed only two visitors a week, according to his son, Wezi.
Kaunda, 73, was arrested Christmas Day in connection with the Oct. 28 coup attempt. He was freed Wednesday from a maximum-security prison in Kabwe, 80 miles north of the capital, on the condition he remain under house arrest, not engage in political activities, give interviews or issue press statements.
Police will have ''complete access'' to Kaunda's villa in Lusaka and determine who would be allowed to visit him, the government said.
Wezi Kaunda said police did not allow the housekeeper or other staff members into the house Thursday and only reluctantly agreed to allow one son and five grandchildren to remain living there with Kaunda and his wife, Betty.
''It's far worse than being in prison, where we could see him quite liberally. We have a large family. Six of us visited him in prison yesterday,'' the younger Kaunda said.
Troops loyal to President Frederick Chiluba crushed the military revolt on Oct. 28. The leader of the Zambia Democratic Congress party, Dean Mung'omba, has been imprisoned two months without being charged, party spokesman Wynter Kabimba said.
The party described Kaunda's house arrest as ''an outright act of discrimination.''
Kaunda's lawyers plan to ask the High Court on Friday to force the government to either let him go or charge him and put him on trial.
Kaunda led Zambia to independence from Britain in 1964. He ruled the southern African nation for 27 years until he lost to Chiluba in the nation's first multiparty elections in 1991.
Kaunda's lawyers expressed outrage at Chiluba's treatment of Kaunda, 73, the former president who led Zambia out of British colonial rule in 1964 and now stands accused of, but not charged with, involvement in an attempted coup d'etat in October.
Kaunda ruled a one-party state. He was known for weeping in public and gently waving his trademark white handkerchiefs at his people, some of whom he detained in underground prison cells, until Chiluba ousted him in the nation's first multiparty election in 1991.
Since then, Kaunda has emerged as a staunch foe of Chiluba. The president has responded by placing legal and now security restrictions on Kaunda and his party.
Once hailed as a political reformer, Chiluba increasingly has come under the regional and international spotlight for moves against his opponents even as his government has been lauded for its attempts to reform an economy ruined by Kaunda's statist policies and mismanagement.
Chiluba's Zambia has become progressively unstable, as evidenced by a bungled attempted coup in October by junior military officers, who seized the national broadcast station and declared themselves in control but were routed by government troops after only a few hours.
Kaunda was out of the country at the time, but Chiluba's government has alleged he was involved because of statements that predicted an overthrow of the government. A few days after his return to Zambia after an extended international tour, Kaunda was arrested on Christmas and jailed without charge at a maximum security prison in the central town of Kabwe, about 80 miles north of Lusaka, the capital.
In justifying his continued detention of Kaunda, Chiluba was quoted by the Reuters news service Wednesday as saying, ''You are witness to the highly inflammatory statements the man had been making.''
The arrest of scores of suspected coup plotters and political opponents by security forces brought widespread international condemnation after evidence emerged that at least one of the detainees has been tortured.
Kaunda denies any involvement in the attempted coup. Nonetheless, some members of his party, the United National Independence Party, had advised him not to return to Zambia during this crackdown, said Mwangala Zaloumis, one of Kaunda's seven lawyers.
''There were these rumors that he was going to be detained on arrival,'' Zaloumis said in a telephone interview from Lusaka.
She said that Kaunda felt entitled to return to his country to be with his family, including his grandchildren. In placing Kaunda under a 28-day house arrest, Chiluba effectively has restricted the entire Kaunda family, Zaloumis said.
Kaunda's release from prison comes after intervention by former Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere, who visited Zambia this week and appealed personally on Kaunda's behalf. Chiluba also was under strong pressure from Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, chairman of the Organization of African Unity, as well as from the United States.
Zambia, one of the first African countries to hold multiparty elections in the early 1990s, now seems to be sliding back toward authoritarianism. A particularly worrisome development was the Christmas Day arrest of former President Kenneth Kaunda, the man who led Zambia to independence. The government hopes to link Kaunda to a failed coup attempt last October, when he was out of the country. Under an emergency law that permits detention without charges or trial, Kaunda can be held for four weeks, during which his supporters fear he could be tortured or killed.
Kaunda was no liberal democrat during the 27 years he ruled Zambia. He stifled the press, jailed critics and permitted only one party. Protests forced him into free elections in 1991, which he lost to Frederick Chiluba, a trade union leader he had earlier jailed. Chiluba's promises of democracy and free markets excited broad hopes. But six years later, his rule has turned increasingly arbitrary.
Before last year's election, he rewrote the constitution to bar Kaunda and another opposition leader from running. The United States and other countries rightly responded by reducing their aid programs. Earlier this year, donor nations agreed to restore the cuts provided Zambia improved its performance on privatizing industry and combating corruption.
Then in October, a group of military officers staged a bumbling coup attempt, which was easily suppressed. Since then, Chiluba has sharply stepped up his repression, jailing scores of political opponents. Kaunda may indeed have had some link to the coup. But that can only be determined by a fair trial. To fulfill its promises of economic freedom and governmental accountability, the Chiluba government must return to the rule of law. Foreign donors should hold up their aid until it does.
Britain, South Africa the United States -- and most recently Libya -- have called for Kaunda's immediate trial or release, but Zambia's home affairs minister said Sunday he would not be freed ''just because he is a former president and has power and friends in high places.''
Kaunda, 73, who leads the opposition to President Frederick Chiluba's government, was arrested on Christmas Day, just days after returning to Zambia following a months-long lecture tour.
No charges have been filed against the former president, who is scheduled to appear in the Lusaka High Court on Monday, but the government believes he is linked to a failed coup on Oct. 28.
Kaunda's lawyers are trying to force the government to charge or release him.
''Zambia will adhere to the rule of law in determining the cases of those implicated. ... I am surprised America, where the rule of law obtains, is saying that we should not follow the law,'' said Home Affairs Minister Peter Machungwa.
Kaunda repeatedly has denied any involvement in the coup attempt. He was out of the country when soldiers seized control of the state radio station and broadcast that they had overthrown Chiluba. Loyalist troops quickly crushed the rebellion.
Under state of emergency legislation imposed after the attempted coup, about 90 people, including one other opposition politician and many soldiers, have been arrested on suspicion of aiding the failed uprising. All have had 28-day detention orders extended indefinitely.
Shortly after a brief court appearance on Friday, Kaunda was flown by helicopter to Mukobeko maximum security prison in Kabwe, an industrial town 80 miles north of Lusaka.
Kaunda was being held alone in a cell and was refusing food and water to protest his detention. ''He's very weak. I am really fearing for him,'' Gen. Malimba Masheke, a top official in Kaunda's United National Independence Party, told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Amnesty International and other human rights groups have alleged that many of the detainees, including opposition politician Dean Mung'omba, have been tortured. Machungwa said the state-appointed Human Rights Commission would visit Kaunda later Sunday.
Chiluba's critics claim the government is using the attempted coup to suppress political opposition. Police have detained another opposition leader for more than a month.
The president ended Kaunda's 27-year reign in the nation's first multiparty elections in 1991.
In a briefing to the diplomatic corps broadcast on state television, Foreign Minister Kelli Walubita confirmed widespread suspicions that Kaunda was a suspect in the Oct. 28 coup attempt.
Kaunda, who repeatedly has denied any involvement, appeared in court earlier Friday, but the government refused to release or charge the veteran politician.
''The state intends to torture me as they have done to others,'' Kaunda, 73, said in a sworn statement.
After the hearing, a helicopter flew Kaunda to an unknown destination, raising fears among his supporters for his safety in detention.
In Washington, the Clinton administration condemned the arrest. ''We call on the government of Zambia to release him in the spirit of reconciliation and peace,'' the White House said in a written statement.
Also Friday, about 300 supporters demonstrated outside the Kamwala holding prison where Kaunda was detained. Paramilitary police patrolled most main intersections in the capital and closed off most of the approaches to the High Court.
The detention of Zambia's founding father, who led the nation to independence from the British in 1964, came four days after he returned to the country from a lengthy lecture tour.
He was away in October when soldiers seized control of the state radio station and broadcast that they had overthrown President Frederick Chiluba. Loyal troops quickly crushed the rebellion.
Kaunda was served with a 28-day detention order Thursday under a state of emergency declared after the Oct. 28 failed coup. The order gave no reasons for his arrest.
Judge James Mutale adjourned the special High Court hearing to Monday after Kaunda's lawyers objected to the presence of 20 plainclothes security men tightly surrounding him inside the Lusaka courthouse.
''The police have done everything in their power to hinder us'' from consulting, Kaunda's lawyer Sacika Sitwala told the judge.
Chiluba ousted Kaunda from 27 years in power in the nation's first multiparty election in 1991.
About 300 supporters, who arrived at the Kamwala holding prison by foot, bus and truck, chanted political songs to protest his arrest Thursday.
Paramilitary police, apparently expecting demonstrations by Kaunda supporters, patrolled most of the capital's main intersections.
The High Court in Lusaka was expected to convene in the afternoon, forcing police to bring Kaunda to court and make their allegations against him public, Kaunda's eldest son, Wezi, said.
''This is the first step. We want to know why police have taken this action,'' he said.
Kaunda's detention came four days after he returned to the southern African country from a lengthy lecture tour.
He was away in October when soldiers seized control of the state radio station and broadcast that they had overthrown President Frederick Chiluba. Loyal troops quickly crushed the rebellion.
Kaunda, 73, was served with a 28-day detention order Thursday under a state of emergency declared after the Oct. 28 failed coup. The order gave no reasons for his arrest.
Detaining Kaunda beyond 28 days would require a presidential order. So far, all of the more than 90 people -- mostly soldiers -- detained under the emergency declaration have had the detention extended indefinitely.
Kaunda repeatedly has denied any links with the rebel soldiers.
Chiluba ousted Kaunda from 27 years in power in the nation's first multiparty election in 1991.
In a briefing to the diplomatic corps broadcast on state television, Foreign Minister Kelli Walubita confirmed widespread suspicions that Kaunda was a suspect in the Oct. 28 coup attempt.
Kaunda appeared in court earlier Friday, but the government refused to release or charge the veteran politician, who has repeatedly denied any involvement in the coup attempt.
''The state intends to torture me as they have done to others,'' Kaunda, 73, said in a sworn statement.
After the hearing, a helicopter flew Kaunda to an unknown destination, raising fears among his supporters for his safety in detention.
Earlier Friday, about 300 supporters demonstrated outside the Kamwala holding prison where Kaunda was detained. Paramilitary police patrolled most main intersections in the capital and closed off most of the approaches to the High Court.
The detention of Zambia's founding father, who led the nation to independence from the British in 1964, came four days after he returned to the country from a lengthy lecture tour.
He was away in October when soldiers seized control of the state radio station and broadcast that they had overthrown President Frederick Chiluba. Loyal troops quickly crushed the rebellion.
Kaunda was served with a 28-day detention order Thursday under a state of emergency declared after the Oct. 28 failed coup. The order gave no reasons for his arrest.
Judge James Mutale adjourned the special High Court hearing to Monday after Kaunda's lawyers objected to the presence of 20 plainclothes security men tightly surrounding him inside the Lusaka courthouse.
''The police have done everything in their power to hinder us'' from consulting, Kaunda's lawyer Sacika Sitwala told the judge.
Chiluba ousted Kaunda from 27 years in power in the nation's first multiparty election in 1991.
The arrest of Kaunda, the 73-year-old statesman who led the country to independence in 1964, is likely to heighten political tensions in Zambia, where people have been living for two months under what amounts to a police state and where a siege mentality seems to have infected the ruling party.
More than 90 soldiers and several opposition politicians have been jailed since President Frederick T.J. Chiluba declared a state of emergency in late October after loyal troops crushed a rebellion by a handful of mutinous soldiers. Under the emergency declaration, police have wide powers to detain people for 28 days without charges.
''They are determined to make sure that they use this coup as an opportunity to detain Mr. Kaunda, to humiliate him, and endanger him, maybe even kill him,'' Kaunda's press secretary, Muhabi Lungu, said Thursday morning. ''All of this is aimed at squashing the opposition. They want to use this opportunity to crack down on anyone who has a voice in this country.''
Government officials did not immediately explain why police had detained Kaunda. But the detention Thursday morning of the man most Zambians see as the founding father of their country is only the latest development in a long personal struggle between the two men.
Politically, they have been at each other's throats since Chiluba defeated Kaunda in the nation's first multiparty elections in 1991, ending the older politician's 27-year reign as Zambia's strongman. When he was arrested, Kaunda had only been home two days after a lengthy lecture tour abroad.
When the coup attempt took place on Oct. 28, Kaunda was in South Africa. He and other opposition leaders have repeatedly accused Chiluba of staging the takeover as a pretext to crack down on his opponents.
For several weeks, Kaunda chose to remain in Zimbabwe rather than return home. One reason was the widespread speculation in Zambia that he would be arrested in connection with the coup plot if he returned.
He has denied any involvement in the coup attempt, although government officials have indicated they suspect he had a role in it. Despite his fears, on Tuesday he drove back to his home in Lusaka's northern suburb of Roma to celebrate Christmas with his family, his aides said.
Just before dawn Thursday morning, Lungu said, more than 60 policemen dressed in battle fatigues and armed with assault rifles surrounded Kaunda's home. A three-hour standoff ensued, during which Kaunda's aides stalled the police with a request for a search warrant.
Then, at 8:20 a.m., the former president agreed to go down to the main police headquarters for questioning, Lungu said. But an hour after he arrived, Kaunda was hustled into a police car and taken to the Kamwala holding prison.
Police formed a cordon around the jail to keep his supporters away. Before disappearing into the prison, Kaunda told reporters he had been notified that he would be detained for 28 days and did not know why. He said the detention ''doesn't make sense,'' and added, ''I appeal to everyone to remain calm.''
Police stood on guard throughout the capital's streets in an unusual display of force, perhaps to deter Kaunda's supporters from protesting, the Associated Press reported. Kaunda's arrest is a humiliating moment for a leader who was for decades revered as an elder statesman in Zambia.
Known for a warm personality and colorful habits, like his trademark white handkerchief that he always waves at public events, he led the nationalist movement for independence from Britain in what was then called Northern Rhodesia. A leader in the fight against apartheid, he espoused a nonviolent approach.
His one-party rule came to an end in 1991 when a tired and impoverished electorate rejected his United National Independence Party in the country's first all-party elections. Years of economic decline and a drop in demand for Zambia's main resource, copper, fanned the sentiment for political change.
Chiluba, who was the head of a powerful trade union, easily won the elections with a campaign to bring multiparty democracy to what had been an autocratic, one-party state.
But unlike others among the first generation of African leaders who were removed over the last 10 years, Kaunda refused to retire from politics after his defeat. Chiluba, for his part, has been threatened by Kaunda's continued popularity in some parts of the country. Over the years, his government has taken increasingly repressive steps to keep the elder statesman's party from regaining power.
The feud between the two men has become extremely personal and ugly. Chiluba, a born-again Christian who often cites the will of God as his only political guide, frequently talks about Kaunda as if he were the personification of the devil.
Before the elections last year, Chiluba pushed through amendments to the Constitution that made it impossible for Kaunda to stand as a candidate because his parents were not born in Zambia.
Then, when a shadowy terrorist group known as Black Mamba set off a series of small bombs in the early stages of the election, Chiluba's administration blamed the violence on Kaunda's supporters and arrested several leaders of his party, keeping them in jail during the campaign without trial.
In August, shots were fired at Kaunda's car as he was traveling to a political rally in the copper belt town of Kabwe. The former head of state was slightly wounded. He has accused police of trying to assassinate him, while Chiluba's aides have suggested the wounds were self-inflicted.
Then came the coup. On Oct. 28, Zambians woke to a man calling himself Captain Solo announcing on the state radio that he had taken over the country and would give Chiluba until 9 a.m. to surrender or be killed. Shortly after that, gunfire was heard outside the radio and television complex and State House, the president's residence.
By 9 a.m. a military commander announced on another station in the complex that the coup had been quelled, and an hour later, Chiluba went on the air to say that six plotters had been arrested and that people should return to work.
But within days, Chiluba had declared a state of emergency and had begun rounding up opposition leaders and military officers, holding them without trial. Among them was Dean Mungomba, a presidential candidate and the leader of the Zambian Democratic Congress. Amnesty International has accused police of torturing Mungomba and other detained suspects.
Kaunda's son, Wezi Kaunda, who was with his father when he was arrested, told the Associated Press he feared his father would also be tortured. ''I think something very serious will happen if they took him into detention,'' he said.
Kaunda, 73, promptly began a hunger strike to protest his 28-day detainment without charges, which is permitted under a state of emergency declared by his successor, President Frederick Chiluba.
Kaunda's incarceration was believed linked to a failed coup attempt in Oct. 28 against Chiluba, who ousted Kaunda from 27 years in power in the nation's first multiparty election in 1991. Critics say Chiluba is using the state of emergency to clamp down on political opposition in this southern African nation.
Kaunda went to police headquarters for questioning after about 40 heavily armed paramilitary police surrounded his suburban Lusaka house at dawn. After an hour there, Kaunda was hustled into another vehicle and taken to Kamwala prison, where police formed a cordon to hold back some 500 supporters.
''I have been detained for 28 days. I don't know why,'' Kaunda told reporters before being driven to Kamwala.
''Police said they wanted to ask him a few questions and we agreed to go with them,'' said Sacika Sitwala, a lawyer for Kaunda's opposition United National Independence Party. ''When we arrived they suddenly started reading a detention order.''
Sitwala accused police of ''a breach of trust'' in detaining Kaunda, who has insisted he knew nothing about the coup attempt.
In the capital Thursday, police stood guard on main streets in an unusual display of force.
Wezi Kaunda, the former president's eldest son, said his father would refuse to eat until he was brought to court or faced specific charges. According to Wezi, his father was a strict vegetarian.
The detention of Zambia's founding father, who led the nation to independence from the British in 1964, came four days after he returned to the country from a lengthy lecture tour. Supporters had expressed fears of his arrest.
Kaunda was away when mutinous soldiers seized control of the state radio station on Oct. 28 and broadcast they had overthrown Chiluba. Loyal troops quickly crushed the rebellion and Chiluba declared the state of emergency.
So far, all of the more than 90 people -- most of them soldiers -- have had their detentions extended indefinitely.
Wezi Kaunda said he feared his father would be tortured. Amnesty International has accused police of torturing other suspects detained under the state of emergency, including opposition politician Dean Mung'omba.
Wezi Kaunda and his father's housekeeper were the only visitors permitted to see Kaunda, who was being held in a communal cell with more than two dozen men facing criminal charges.
''The conditions in there are terrible. It is lice-infested,'' said Wezi, adding that he believed his father was taken to the overcrowded, aged prison on Christmas Day out of ''vindictiveness, to settle old scores and to humiliate him.''
Kaunda, who is Christian, ''would have gone to church without this harassment,'' his son said.
The investigators were allowed to interview a few of the men late Sunday after twice being denied access, said Judge Lombe Chibesakunda, head of the state-appointed Human Rights Commission.
The soldiers in Lusaka's central Chinbokaila Prison were jailed under a state of emergency declared a day after the unsuccessful effort to oust President Frederick Chiluba, who has run the southern African nation since 1991.
Two of the detainees, identified in a statement as Maj. Berrington Mukoma and Sgt. Norman Tembo, complained they have been tortured and starved and prevented from getting legal advice and medical assistance.
Chibesakunda said the commission reminded prison authorities that Zambia was a signatory to United Nations provisions for ''minimum standards'' allowing prisoner visits and protection from abuse.
The London-based human rights organization Amnesty International accuses the government of torturing 34 detainees suspected of involvement in the revolt. The men were subjected to beatings, electric shocks and cigarette burns, it said.
The prisoners include junior military officers who overran the state broadcast center on Oct. 28 and claimed to have driven Chiluba from office. They were arrested after loyalist troops shot their way into the broadcast center, and swiftly put down the coup attempt.
The only politician arrested was Dean Mung'omba, a former banker and Finance Ministry official in Chiluba's government. He heads the small Zambia Democratic Congress, one of seven groups in an opposition alliance headed by former President Kenneth Kaunda. Mung'omba has denied any links with the mutineers.
Several suspects were still being held Monday at the main police headquarters, where Amnesty said most of the torture was carried out.
Kaunda's alliance has accused the government of using the state of emergency, which will last three months, to crush its political opponents.
Dean Mung'omba, head of the Zambia Democratic Congress party, was suspended from a metal bar by his handcuffed hands and beaten in a torture method known as ''the swing,'' the human rights group said Friday.
Mung'omba and 33 soldiers arrested after loyal troops quashed an Oct. 28 revolt against President Frederick Chiluba's government were assaulted, subjected to electric shocks and burned with cigarettes, the statement said.
Electric wires were attached to Mung'omba's metal handcuffs and after each incident of torture he was interrogated continuously for up to 18 hours, it said.
The London-based organization said Mung'omba's lawyer described the torture after the Lusaka High Court ordered authorities to allow the politician to receive visits, medical attention and food nearly a week after he was detained under a state of emergency.
Robert Simeza said Mung'omba, a respected former banker and deputy finance minister in Chiluba's government from 1991 to 1994, ''was in such pain he cried ... and when the pain left he didn't even know what was going on.''
When brought to the court, Mung'omba was seen to have cuts and bruises on his legs, arms and hands, his eyelids were bruised and the backs of his hands bore marks of cigarette burns.
Amnesty said military officers accused of involvement in the failed revolt were similarly tortured in three torture rooms at the Central Police Headquarters in Lusaka.
''The attempted coup cannot be used as an excuse to inflict this cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment,'' the Amnesty statement said.
Mung'omba is the only opposition leader known to have been arrested since mutinous soldiers captured the state broadcast center and claimed to have toppled Chiluba. They were overpowered some four hours later.
Mung'omba's small party is one of seven groups in an opposition alliance led by former President Kenneth Kaunda.
The alliance has accused the government of using the state of emergency to crack down on its political opponents. The emergency gives Chiluba's government sweeping powers of arrest and detention without trial.
Kaunda was out of the country during the failed coup and had yet to return Friday.
Kaunda led the nation to independence in 1964 and ruled for 27 years until he was ousted by Chiluba in the first multiparty elections in 1991.
A state-appointed human rights commission was barred from Lusaka Central Prison, where 33 soldiers and opposition politician Dean Mung'omba have been held since the Oct. 28 revolt.
Judge Lombe Chibesakunda, the commission's leader, said group was trying to investigate allegations that the prisoners had been tortured and denied food and water.
Lavu Mulimba, a spokesman for the commission, said the group was denied entry both Friday and Saturday.
Amnesty International, the London-based human rights group, said the prisoners have been assaulted, subjected to electric shocks and burned with cigarettes.
Mung'omba, head of the small Zambia Democratic Congress party in this Central African nation, was allegedly tied to an iron bar and tortured. His wife, Rose, said Saturday that doctors were preparing reports on his wounds, bruises and burns.
''The attempted coup cannot be used as an excuse to inflict this cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment,'' Amnesty said.
Mung'omba is the only opposition leader known to have been arrested since mutinous soldiers captured the state broadcast center and claimed to have toppled President Frederick Chiluba. They were overpowered some four hours later.
The High Court in Lusaka ordered the government Thursday to allow Mung'omba, a former deputy finance minister in the government and banker, to receive family visits, food, medical attention and legal advice.
The prison's refusal to allow the state Human Rights Commission access to the prisoners shows how powerless the commission really is, said Ngande Mwanajiti, head of the independent Lusaka-based Inter African Network for Human Rights and Development.
''It has now been seen as a useless body, a sham. This undermines the rule of law,'' he said.
Mung'omba's small party is one of seven groups in an opposition alliance led by former President Kenneth Kaunda.
The alliance has accused the government of using the state of emergency to crack down on its political opponents. The emergency gives Chiluba's government sweeping powers of arrest and detention without trial.
Kaunda led the nation to independence in 1964 and ruled for 27 years until he was ousted by Chiluba in the first multiparty elections in 1991.
The state of emergency, originally set to last a week, gives the government of the southern African nation sweeping search and arrest powers, including the right to detain suspects for 28 days without trial.
Lawyers for an opposition politician arrested Friday said Dean Mung'omba, head of the Zambia Democratic Congress, appeared to have been tortured.
''He has wounds on his hands and bruises all over,'' attorney John Sangwa said. ''He looks like a hospital patient.''
Mung'omba has been denied access to his lawyers since he was arrested. They were unsuccessful Tuesday in gaining his release from jail after asking the High Court to order the state to either free him or allow them to see him.
The hearing was adjourned to Wednesday after state attorneys said they were not ready to argue against an application for Mung'omba's immediate release, Sangwa said.
Sangwa said lawyers consulted briefly with Mung'omba at the courthouse but he was taken away before they could arrange a medical examination.
Under Zambia's constitution, a majority of lawmakers must ratify a state of emergency within seven days of its imposition. Parliament officials said 137 of 158 lawmakers approved the extension and eight voted against it. The other 13 legislators were absent.
President Frederick Chiluba's Movement for Multiparty Democracy has 131 seats, with the rest held by independents and tiny minority parties.
The main opposition alliance of seven parties headed by former President Kenneth Kaunda's United National Independence Party boycotted parliamentary elections last November and has no seats in the legislature.
The alliance has accused the government of using the state of emergency to crack down on opposition groups. It was imposed Oct. 29, the day after an attempted coup by army officers who seized a radio station.
Mung'omba was being held in the capital, Lusaka, with at least 20 soldiers arrested after loyal troops shot their way into the state broadcast center, ending the attempted revolt.
Mung'omba, a former banker who served in Chiluba's finance ministry between 1991 and 1994, is the only known opposition political leader detained so far.
According to the detention order, he was suspected of acting with junior army officers in the attempted coup, said Sangwa, who added that Mung'omba has denied the allegations as ''ridiculous.''
The uprising was a blow to a campaign by South African President Nelson Mandela and others to convince the world that the region's era of military takeovers and dictatorships had ended.
Chiluba defeated Kaunda in the nation's first multiparty elections in 1991. Kaunda led Zambia to independence in 1964 and ruled for 27 years.
Chiluba's government has been accused of corruption and criticized for barring Kaunda from running in national elections last year.
Police cars with sirens blaring raced through Lusaka's streets Saturday. But the number of suspects arrested in the past two days and their identities were not released, according to a report on State radio.
Also Saturday, state television reported the nation's top law officer, Attorney General George Chilupe, resigned. Chilupe was believed to have opposed draconian emergency measures that were imposed in the wake of Tuesday's coup attempt.
The wife of a man identified only as Maj. Mutale of the army's engineering corps told reporters Saturday her husband was among those arrested.
An army lieutenant also was arrested for allegedly providing the coup leaders with plans of the broadcast center seized by mutineers, a military official said on condition of anonymity.
Mutale is the most senior officer to be detained so far in a crackdown that followed a coup attempt Tuesday against Chiluba, led by disgruntled military officers. The government responded by declaring a state of emergency, giving authorities widespread powers to search homes and buildings and to detain suspects without filing charges.
Opposition groups have warned that Chiluba's government would use the failed coup as an excuse to quash government opponents.
The only known political leader detained so far is Zambia Democratic Congress party head Dean Mung'omba, who was arrested Friday.
Lawyers acting for former President Kenneth Kaunda's main opposition group said none of its leaders were in police custody Saturday. Kaunda was in South Africa.
On Tuesday, mutinous soldiers took over the state radio station and claimed in broadcasts to have toppled Chiluba. Loyal soldiers shot their way into the station a few hours later and arrested most of the mutineers. One rebel was killed.
Two junior officers among 17 captured rebels were identified as the leaders of the failed revolt and police said at least four more mutineers had evaded capture.
Though the government has not officially implicated opposition leaders in the coup attempt, it said Thursday that some prominent civilians may have backed it.
In the nation's first multiparty elections in 1991, Chiluba defeated Kaunda, who led Zambia to independence in 1964 and ruled for 27 years.
The government has since been accused of corruption and criticized for barring Kaunda from running in national elections last year again won by Chiluba.
Four plainclothes policemen seized Dean Mung'omba, head of the Zambia Democratic Congress, from the party's offices in the capital of Lusaka, lawyer Robert Simeza said.
The government has sweeping search and arrest powers under a state of emergency President Frederick Chiluba declared Wednesday after his troops quickly crushed revolt by disgruntled soldiers Tuesday.
The arrest was the first action against an opposition politician since the state of emergency began. Mung'omba received no explanation for his detention and was not charged with any offense, Simeza said.
''We must assume he was picked up for interrogation about the attempted coup,'' Simeza said, adding that his attempts to see his client failed.
Mutinous soldiers took over the state radio station Tuesday and broadcast claims that they toppled Chiluba. Loyal soldiers shot their way into the station and arrested most of the mutineers.
One rebel soldier died and 17 were arrested, including two junior officers. Police were searching for at least four more soldiers.
The government has not officially implicated opposition leaders in the coup attempt, but said Thursday that it was investigating whether prominent civilians backed it.
The Zambia Democratic Congress is one of seven groups in an opposition alliance led by former President Kenneth Kaunda, who led Zambia to independence in 1964 and ruled for 27 years. Chiluba, whose government has been accused of corruption, defeated Kaunda in the nation's first multiparty election in 1991.
Mung'omba and his party have been outspoken critics of Chiluba's government. They and Kaunda's United National Independence Party boycotted national elections last year after Kaunda was disqualified from running.
Kaunda's alliance and human rights groups say Chiluba's government intends to use the state of emergency to crack down on opponents.
Kaunda was out of the country this week for a medical exam in South Africa and the coronation of Lesotho's King Letsie III.
Chiluba's announcement indicated the coup attempt by a previously unknown military council had met resistance and perhaps crumbled.
''We are still firmly in control,'' Chiluba said in the brief broadcast at mid-morning.
He thanked loyal military forces for backing his ''legal and democratically elected government.''
''I want to warn those who rise by the sword they will fall by the sword,'' Chiluba said. ''I appeal to you fellow Zambians to unite and be resolute. We can't go back to the Dark Ages.''
Gunfire could be heard around the radio station in the two hours after the military council had announced about dawn that it controlled the state broadcasting center and had ousted Chiluba.
A spokesman for the council said Chiluba would be shot on sight if he refused to surrender, and that all politicians should turn themselves in by noon (5 a.m. EST).
About two hours later, a man who identified himself as Col. Siame issued a short statement on the state radio, saying the government remained in control.
Military roadblocks were set up around the capital, Lusaka, and people heading into town Tuesday morning were told to go home. A South African radio station, quoting an unidentified source, said tanks were heading for the city.
Mike Murray, first secretary at the British High Commission, or embassy, in Lusaka, told the British Broadcasting Corp. he heard gunfire, apparently from small arms, coming from the general direction of Zambia's State House.
While the extent of the announced coup was unclear, the later broadcast by a military officer loyal to the government indicated pro-Chiluba forces had regained control of the broadcast center.
The announcement of the overnight coup said a military council overthrew Chiluba, the nation's first democratically elected leader, and that all senior military and police officers had been fired.
''We are here to protect people. We have surrounded the radio station and we are armed,'' a man who identified himself as Capt. Solo told Zambian state radio at dawn.
Solo said the president would be killed if he failed to surrender.
''There are instructions to kill him on sight. He must come out with the Geneva flag (to surrender),'' Solo said.
According to Solo, a previously unknown group called the National Redemption Council ousted Chiluba in a campaign called Operation Born Again.
''I saw an angel and the message was the government had to be overthrown,'' Solo said on the radio.
The coup attempt was a severe setback to hopes for political stability in southern Africa, bolstered in recent years by the end of apartheid in South Africa and Chiluba's successive election victories after decades of single-party rule in Zambia.
Chiluba defeated longtime leader Kenneth Kaunda in the nation's first multiparty election in 1991, then won re-election in 1996 despite complaints of corruption and inefficiency.
Zambia, known as Northern Rhodesia before independence under Kaunda in 1964, enjoyed initial prosperity until Kaunda's socialist-style economic policies and a fall in copper prices, one of its major minerals, devastated the economy.
Richard Cornwell, a political analyst, said he believed general dissatisfaction with hardships in Zambia led to the announced coup.
''This has to do with the internal dynamic, with the hardship imposed by structural adjustments, a society ravaged by AIDS,'' said Cornwell, who is with the private Institute for Security Studies in South Africa.
The power grab in this southern African nation ended a few hours after a dawn radio broadcast proclaimed that a military council had deposed Chiluba. Two military officers were arrested by midday, and no injuries were reported after the military regained control of the broadcast center in the capital Lusaka.
''I want to warn those who rise by the sword they will fall by the sword,'' Chiluba said in a brief broadcast, assuring the country he was still in power. ''I appeal to you fellow Zambians to unite and be resolute. We can't go back to the Dark Ages.''
The coup attempt was a setback to hopes for political stability in southern Africa, bolstered in recent years by the end of apartheid in South Africa and Chiluba's successive election victories after decades of single-party rule in Zambia.
Richard Sakala, Chiluba's special assistant, identified the two men in custody as a Capt. Chiti and Sgt. Solo of the Zambian army. Their first names were not immediately available.
The man who made the coup broadcast on Zambian state radio identified himself as Solo. He said a previously unknown group called the National Redemption Council ousted Chiluba in a campaign called Operation Born Again.
''I saw an angel and the message was the government had to be overthrown,'' Solo said in his broadcast.
Chiluba defeated longtime leader Kenneth Kaunda in the nation's first multiparty election in 1991, then won re-election in 1996 despite complaints of corruption and inefficiency.
Zambia, known as Northern Rhodesia before independence under Kaunda in 1964, enjoyed initial prosperity until Kaunda's socialist-style economic policies and a fall in copper prices, one of its major minerals, devastated the economy.
Richard Cornwell, a political analyst, said he believed general dissatisfaction with hardships in Zambia led to the announced coup.
''This has to do with the internal dynamic, with the hardship imposed by structural adjustments, a society ravaged by AIDS,'' said Cornwell, who is with the private Institute for Security Studies in South Africa.
A dawn radio broadcast proclaimed that a military council had deposed President Frederick Chiluba. Soon after, gunfire erupted around the broadcast center in Lusaka, the capital, and near State House, Chiluba's residence.
Lusaka residents rushed out to stock up on food and supplies, but about four hours later, Chiluba went on the radio to say he was in control of the southern African nation, known as Northern Rhodesia before independence in 1964.
''I want to warn those who rise by the sword they will fall by the sword,'' Chiluba said in a brief broadcast. ''I appeal to you fellow Zambians to unite and be resolute. We can't go back to the Dark Ages.''
There were unconfirmed reports of casualties among rebel soldiers and government forces, but Chiluba's aide, Richard Sakala, said he was unaware of any injuries.
''It was a very unlikely event as you can see. It was confined to a small group of people,'' Sakala said. Chiluba, he added, was inside State House throughout the coup attempt.
At least nine rebellious soldiers and officers were arrested by midday.
While quickly contained, the coup attempt showed how anti-government sentiments have hardened in Zambia just six years after Chiluba gained power in the nation's first multiparty elections. It also damaged a regional push for political stability after decades of liberation struggles, civil wars and other unrest.
''It will cast a shadow of doubt on the future political stability of our region,'' said Kaire Mbuende, executive secretary of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community that includes Zambia.
Zambian state radio said those arrested included Capt. Stephen Lungu, who made the coup broadcast identifying himself as Capt. Solo.
''Capt. Solo'' said that the National Redemption Council, a previously unknown group, had ousted Chiluba in a campaign called Operation Born Again.
''I saw an angel and the message was the government had to be overthrown,'' he said in his broadcast.
Chiluba would be killed on sight if he failed to surrender and all senior military and police officers had been fired, he said in the message repeated several times.
State radio said Lungu hid in a freight container when loyalist soldiers stormed the station. He and eight others were brought out, stripped to their waists and with their hands tied behind their backs, workers at the station said.
Before government troops took back the station, Lungu told the British Broadcasting Corp. that Zambia ''was going to ruin.''
''It was corrupting completely, and there is only one institution, one organized institution, which can put an end to such a criminal activity and that is the military,'' he said.
In his radio address, the president thanked loyal military forces for backing his ''legal and democratically elected government.''
Chiluba defeated longtime leader Kenneth Kaunda in the nation's first multiparty election in 1991, then won re-election in 1996 despite complaints of corruption and inefficiency.
After the coup bid failed, life quickly returned to normal in Lusaka, though a Zambian who works for a Norwegian aid agency said people took time to celebrate.
''People were dancing and jumping and ululating because we were not happy to hear about a military takeover,'' said Joseph Mulenga, contacted by telephone from Johannesburg.
Government troops drove through the downtown streets singing victory songs, then took up positions at strategic buildings and intersections.
Zambia enjoyed initial prosperity from independence in 1964 until Kaunda's socialist-style economic policies and a fall in copper prices, one of its major minerals, devastated the economy.
Richard Cornwell, a political analyst, said general dissatisfaction with hardships in Zambia probably led to the attempted coup.
''This has to do with the internal dynamic, with the hardship imposed by structural adjustments, a society ravaged by AIDS,'' said Cornwell, who is with the private Institute for Security Studies in South Africa.