Zambian Defence Force

TheZambian Defence Forceis themilitaryofZambia. It consists of theZambian Army, theZambian Air Force, and theZambia National Service.The defence forces were formed at Zambian independence on 24 October 1964, from constituent units of the dissolvedFederation of Rhodesia and NyasalandArmed Forces.During the 1970s and 1980s, it played a key role in a number of regional conflicts, namely theSouth African Border WarandRhodesian Bush War.Being alandlocked countryZambia has no navy, although the Zambian Army maintains amaritime patrolunit for maintaining security on inland bodies of water.
The Zambian Defence Force had its roots in theNorthern Rhodesia Regiment, amulti-ethnicmilitary unit which was raised by the British colonial government and had served with distinction duringWorld War II.In 1960, the constituent colonies ofNorthern Rhodesia,Southern Rhodesia, andNyasalandwere amalgamated into a self-governingBritishdependency known as theFederation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.When the federation was dissolved three years later, the assets and personnel of its armed forces were integrated with those of its successor states, including Northern Rhodesia, which subsequently gained independence as Zambia.For example, Zambia received half the federalarmoured car squadronas well as some light patrol aircraft.Zambia also inherited the command structures of theNorthern RhodesiaRegiment as well as the Northern Rhodesian Air Wing, which formed the basis for the new Zambian Army and Zambian Air Force, respectively.
Relations almost immediately soured between Zambia and Southern Rhodesia, now known simply asRhodesia, which hadissued its own unilateral declaration of independence(UDI) in 1965.Reports that Rhodesian security forces had occupiedKariba Damprompted Zambian PresidentKenneth Kaundato mobilise the ZDF for the first time and deploy troops to the border.The ZDF was withdrawn when Kaunda received a guarantee that Zambia's supply of Kariba power would not be interrupted.Nevertheless, military tension between the two nations remained high, and border incidents resulting in civilian deaths occurred.In November 1966, Rhodesian troops fired across the border and killed a Zambian woman on the north bank of theZambezi River.In January 1973, Zambian troops fired on a South African police patrol boat on the Zambezi.Shortly afterwards, Defence MinisterGrey Zuluordered that the ZDF return to the border in force.Later in the month Kaunda brought the first of several complaints before theUnited Nations Security Councilcharging that Rhodesian security forces were violating Zambia's sovereignty and territorial integrity with South African support.Tensions flared again when Zambian troops fired across the border and killed two Canadian tourists on the Rhodesian side ofVictoria Fallsin May 1973.
The increasing prospect of war with Rhodesia posed several unique security dilemmas for the ZDF.Firstly, Zambia lacked the manpower or conventional hardware necessary to provide a suitable deterrent to a Rhodesian incursion.It also remained dependent on a relatively small pool of white senior officers and technical personnel.After 1967 Kaunda's government began replacing them with foreign officers on contract, ostensibly to minimise the potential for conflicts of loyalty.Between 1967 and 1970 the majority of officers in the ZDF were seconded from theBritish Army.In 1971, the ZDF was finally prepared to appoint its first black army and air force commanders.Due to the white community's close ties with Rhodesia and South Africa, white Zambians were subsequently barred from voluntary enlistment and granted a blanket exemption from conscription.
Around September 1967, Kaunda made two requests to the United States for equipment for the Zambian Army, including long-rangemissilesystems, but was rebuffed.More successful were Zambia's attempts to acquire its first combat aircraft, a number ofAermacchi MB-326andSIAI-Marchetti SF.260ssourced from Italy;the first black Zambian Air Force pilots were trained by Italian instructors between 1966 and 1969.Italy also sold the ZDF helicopters and towed artillery.
During the 1970s, Zambia began providing sanctuary for a number of revolutionary and militant political movements dedicated to overthrowing colonial and white minority rule elsewhere on the African continent.Guerrilla armies based in exile in Zambia included thePeople's Liberation Army of Namibia(PLAN)and theZimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army(ZIPRA).These movements ultimately embroiled the ZDF in their own internal power strugglesas well as direct clashes with foreign troops carrying out preemptive strikes.In 1968, the ZDF skirmished with Portuguese troops which had pursued a number of Angolan or Mozambican insurgents into Zambia.In September 1975, Zambian troops became locked in a firefight withinsurgentsof theZimbabwe African National Liberation Army(ZANLA).The ZDF killed eleven ZANLA insurgents and later expelled that movement from Zambian soil.A year later, nearly two thousanddisaffected PLAN insurgents in Zambia launched a mutiny which became known as the "Shipanga Affair".The army was forced to marshal several battalions to subdue the dissidents.
In response to Zambia's increasingly open support for PLAN, South Africa sponsored a force ofKaonde-speaking dissidents underAdamson Mushala, known as the Zambian Democratic Supreme Council (DSC).The DSC maintained a low level insurgency in Zambia'sNorth-WesternandWesternProvinces.Mushala's guerrillas sabotaged infrastructure, skirmished with the ZDF, and collected intelligence on PLAN movements inside Zambia.They were trained bySouth African special forcesand instructors recruited from the PortugueseDirectorate-General of Security.In 1973, an army unit killed a hundred of the guerrillas by ambushing them as they attempted to cross the Zambezi near the Caprivi Strip.Mushala was largely inactive until early 1976, when his guerrillas skirmished twice with the ZDF and hijacked an army payroll.
As a result of the new challenges posed by the Mushala insurgency and the presence of foreign militants, the ZDF underwent an extensive reorganisation and adopted a new unified command structure.It was renamed theZambian National Defence Force(ZNDF) in 1976.A prevailing feature of the new ZNDF was its adoption of a third branch known as the Zambian National Service.The objective of the Zambian National Service was to provide basic military instruction to all Zambian citizens in the event they needed to be mobilised as reservists during wartime.The ZNDF became increasingly politicised, with the rulingUnited National Independence Party(UNIP) forming party branches in the barracks and introducing a number of political education programs for military personnel.Under the UNIP, the ZNDF was not subject to public audit or parliamentary oversight.This was justified under the pretext that the ZNDF's development was tied to the exigencies of wartime.
Between 1977 and 1980 military tension with South Africa and Rhodesia continued to escalate, resulting in a renewed spate of border incidents.In 1977, the ZNDF bombarded Rhodesian positions nearVictoria Fallswith rocket and mortar fire.The reasons for the attack were disputed but the Zambian government maintained that the troops involved had been deliberately provoked by Rhodesian forces into firing.Around March 1978, the ZNDF claimed to have been involved in repelling a Rhodesian raid on a ZIPRA training camp.It also assisted PLAN insurgents during a raid on aSouth African military basein theCaprivi Strip.South Africa retaliated by shelling several ZNDF positions near the border,and Rhodesia began targeting ZNDF outposts.Growing Zambian war weariness was a significant factor in Kaunda's influencing the guerrilla movements in Rhodesia to seek peace, resulting in a negotiated end to that conflict.Kaunda also bowed to South African pressure and ordered PLAN to close its rear base facilities in Zambia by 1979.At the same time, the ZNDF embarked on a 70 million kwacha modernisation program with assistance from the Soviet Union.The Soviets provided the Zambian Army with tanks, wheeled armored vehicles, and technical instruction on especially generous terms; the Zambian Air Force received its first fighter aircraft in the form of aMikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21squadron at the same time.
In October 1980, two ZNDF officers, Brigadier Godfrey Miyanda and Colonel Patrick Mkandawire were arrested for planning acoup d'étatwith the support of an exiled Congolese insurgent movement, theFront for Congolese National Liberation(FLNC).The plot involved arming the FLNC with ZNDF weaponry and later providing that movement with rear operating bases in Zambia as a reward for their efforts if the coup succeeded.The ZNDF and the police apprehended the conspirators before they had opportunity to set the coup in motion and later raided the FLNC's base camp, detaining most of the insurgents.
Due in part to the extreme secrecy surrounding the ZNDF's budget and the refusal of theUNIPto allow parliamentary debate on the topic, a number of problems concerning military funding were covered up rather than addressed.For example, the facilities at ZNS training camps were so inadequate that typhoid outbreaks became common among recruits.This was due to lack of funds to filter the camps' drinking water.After a particularly serious typhoid outbreak between 1980 and 1981, the government was forced to suspend and later stop the compulsory national service programme.
In November 1982, the ZNDF killedAdamson Mushalain an ambush outside Solwezi, although his followers continued to carry out operations under the leadership of Alexander Saimbwende.The DSC continued to pose a sufficient threat that an Italian mineral survey team had to be evacuated from Northwestern Province in 1984 after being targeted by the guerrillas.Nevertheless, the erosion of South African support ensured that its forces remained small and poorly armed.Mushala and later Saimbwende turned to ivory poaching to sustain their war effort against the ZNDF.
As theMozambican Civil Warintensified, the ZNDF had to contend with a number of armed incursions byMozambican National Resistance(RENAMO) insurgents, who raided Zambian border towns in search of food and other supplies.The ZNDF made it a policy to pursue RENAMO into neighbouring Mozambique in hot pursuit if necessary.
In 1988, a second coup d'état attempt was planned, this time by Lieutenant General Christian Tembo and at least three other senior army officers.The conspirators were detained before they could carry it out, but this temporarily jeopardised relations between the Zambian government and the army.
The end of theCold Warbrought a number of changes to the Zambian political situation and the ZNDF.The ZNDF remained heavily in debt with the former Soviet bloc for military equipment it had purchased in the 1980s, as well as interest accrued.The army in particular was badly affected by the collapse of its Soviet technical training program, which left much of its heavy weapons unserviceable.
Following mass protests over President Kaunda's decision to cut subsidies for maize meal and double maize prices in 1990,Captain Mwamba Luchembe single-handedly seized the national radio station and announced a coup d'état.Luchembe held the radio station for only two hours before being arrested.Kaunda's unpopularity led to demonstrations in support of Luchembe, however, and the same day the president announced he would seek a referendum on democratic multi-party elections.Kaunda granted a blanket amnesty to his political opponents as he prepared to accept the return of multi-party elections, which would shortly thereafter end his term of almost three decades.Among those who receivedamnestywas Alexander Saimbwende, who surrendered to the government and ended the DSC insurgency.
The1991 general electionsbroughtFrederick Chilubaand his oppositionMovement for Multi-Party Democracyto power and ushered in a period of reforms for the ZNDF.The Chiluba government dismantled the ZNDF's unified command structure and allowed the army, ZNS, and air force to revert to independent commands.The system of political patronage introduced to the ZNDF by Kaunda was also abandoned.A general demobilisation programme was instituted in the army, and parliament gained the ability to debate defence expenditure.The Chiluba government immediately formed aPublic Accounts Committeeto reduce financial irregularities in the ZNDF, most of which were linked to corruption and abuse of the ministerial tender system.Zambia's 1991 constitution formally reinstated the titleZambian Defence Forcefor the armed forces.
In October 1997, CaptainSteven Lunguseized control of the national radio station andannounced a coup d'état.Lungu dismissed the chiefs of the army and police and announced that he was forming a new Government of National Redemption.He gave President Chiluba an ultimatum of three hours to surrender or face death.Loyal ZDF troops responded by storming the radio station, capturing Lungu and five other coup plotters.
In early August 2022, the government announced that it would recruit up to 5,000 military personnel by October of the same year.
In 1976 Zambia adopted a unified command system, in which the three Service Chiefs reported to aCommander of the Zambian National Defence Force(ZNDF).  The Commander of Zambia Air Force at the time, Air Commodore Peter Zuze, was promoted to Lieutenant-General and appointed as Deputy Commander of the ZNDF.However, the Zambia Air Force and Zambia National Service resented this system because Army officers filled most senior appointments in the ZNDF and the system was ended in 1980.  The country then reverted to the command system inherited at independence where Service Chiefs report to the Head of State through a Minister of Defence.
The current (2021) Command is:
- President and Commander-in-Chief:Hakainde Hichilema(from 24 August 2021)
- Defence Minister: Ambrose Lwiji Lufuma (from 27 August 2021)
-Permanent Secretaryfor Defence: Norman Chipakupaku
- Commander Zambia Army: Lieut.-GeneralDennis Sitali Alibuzwi(from 29 August 2021)
- Deputy Commander Zambia Army: Major-General Geoffrey Zyeele (from 29 August 2021)
- Commander Zambia Air Force: Lieut.-General Collins Barry (from 29 August 2021)
- Deputy Commander Zambia Air Force: Major General Oscar Nyoni
- Commandant Zambia National Service: Lieut.-General Patrick Kayombo Solochi
- Deputy Commandant Zambia National Service: Major-General Reuben Mwewa
- Commandant Defence Services and Staff Training College: Brigadier General Benson Musonda.
The current Army organisation is:
Threeinfantry brigades-
With the following units:
The Zambia Air Force is a small air force that developed from the Northern Rhodesian Air Wing as well as the former Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland Air Force.  In recent years the aircraft inventory has largely been updated with Chinese aircraft reflecting the increasing closeness between the Zambian Defence Force and China.  During 1999 eightKarakorum-8jet trainers were delivered and in 2006 the Zambia Air Force received twoXian MA60and fiveYakovlev Yak-12transport aircraft from China.  During March 2012 a further eight K-8 were received.FourHarbin Z-9helicopters were delivered in June 2012, with a further four delivered by March 2013 (when one of the new aircraft was lost in an accident, see below).
In April 2014 sixHongdu L-15Falcon supersonic lead-in fighter/trainer jets were ordered from China, the first arriving in December 2015. Around the same time orders were placed for sixSIAI-Marchetti SF.260TWtrainer aircraft, oneAlenia C-27J Spartantransport aircraft, and a number of Russian-madeMil Mi-17helicopters.These orders were expected to be delivered during 2016.
The Zambia National Service is a defence wing that is mandated to train citizens to serve the republic, develop infrastructure and enhance national food security and contribute to the social economic development. Zambia National Service (ZNS) personnel have been included in peacekeeping contingents deployed by Zambia to the United Nation's MINUSCA mission in the Central African Republic.
Six months of training for 400 youths was planned for 2016.  This was to include 200 males to be trained at Chiwoko ZNS Training Centre, Katete, Eastern Province, and 200 females to be trained at the Kitwe ZNS training camp.
Zambia has been an active participant in several UN peacekeeping operations, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.  Zambian personnel have been fated to be caught up in some of the more dramatic incidents of recent UN Peacekeeping in Africa: witnessing theKibeho Massacrein Rwanda during April 1995; having large numbers of Zambian peacekeepers taken hostage by rebels in Sierra Leone during 2000;and with troops caught up in fighting between Sudanese and South Sudanese forces in the contested Abyei area during May 2011.Despite these crises Zambian forces have generally performed well and earned a reputation as effective peacekeepers.
UN missions which have seen the deployment of battalions of Zambian troops, or other significant contingents, include the following.
UNAVEM III(United Nations Angola Verification Mission III, February 1995 to June 1997)
A Zambian battalion was deployed to southern Angola, based in the town of Menongue.Seven Zambian peacekeepers died during the UNAVEM III deployment.
UNAMIR(United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda)
Three Zambian fatalities.
UNAMSIL(United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone)
Thirty-four Zambian fatalities.
UNMIS(United Nations Mission in the Sudan)
Three Zambian fatalities.Four Zambian peacekeepers were wounded on 10 May 2011,shortly before the independence of South Sudan and before an outbreak of fighting when the Zambians were criticised for not better protecting civilians.
MINUSCA(United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic)
During 2017 Warrant Officer 2 Boyd Chibuye died whilst deployed in the Central African Republic.
On 4 December 2017 a Zambian police member of the UN mission was reported injured in an attack by anti-Balaka fighters in Bria, northern CAR.  One Mauritanian policeman was killed and two others injured in this attack.
Staff Sergeant Derrick Sichilyango of the Zambian Contingent was killed in a road traffic accident in November 2018.
Staff Sergeant Patrick Simasiku Wamunyima and Staff Sergeant Alex Mudenda Musanda, both serving with MINUSCA, died during 2019 and were honoured on the 2020 International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers with the posthumous award of the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal.
SAPMIL(SADC Preventive Mission in the Kingdom of Lesotho)
During November 2017 a smallSouthern Africa Development Community(SADC) standby force was deployed to Lesotho to assist that country through an internal security crisis following the assassination of the Lesotho Defence Force Commander, Lieut.-General Khoantle Motšomotšo, on 5 September 2017. This SADC force included a 207-strong military element which had a Zambian Deputy Commander and which included 36 infantry and nine logistics personnel from Zambia.The mission wrapped up in November 2018 after successfully stabilising the Kingdom.