Top news items in major Zambian media outlets

The following are the highlights of Zambia's major media outlets on Friday.

-- Foreigners who were victims of xenophobic attacks in Zambia have rejected government's plans to relocate them to a refugee settlement, saying it would be tantamount to killing them.

The over 400 foreigners, mostly from Rwanda and Burundi who have sought refuge at a Catholic Church in Lusaka, the Zambian capital following attacks on their shops, said they could not go to the refugee camp in western Zambia because the place lacked food and other basic necessities.

Zambian President Edgar Lungu, who visited the foreigners at the church, said those who fled the refugee camps will have to go back while those who have legitimate authority to stay in communities in the country will receive maximum protection. (THE POST)

-- Zambian President Edgar Lungu said his government would consolidate the macro-economic gains achieved recently to ensure stability and growth of the economy.

Lungu, in remarks delivered at the start of the Zambia International Investment Forum assured the investors of his administration's confidence in the country's central bank in prudent implementation of the monetary policy.

Lungu further assured the investors that the economy was on a right path to recovery following turmoil's experienced last year. (TIMES OF ZAMBIA)

-- Speaker of the Zambian Parliament Patrick Matibini has appealed to stakeholders in the electoral process to allow the country's electoral body to complete the tender process for the printing of ballot papers for the August 11 general elections before making allegations against its independence.

He said it was unfair for stakeholders to start questioning the independence of the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to preside over the electoral process because the tender for the awarding of the contract for the printing of the ballot papers has not been finalized.

The stakeholders have questioned why the electoral body wanted to print the ballot papers in Dubai instead of South Africa where the papers have always been printed. (ZAMBIA DAILY MAIL)

-- The Rwandan Embassy in Zambia has criticized a clique of its nationals which is discouraging the majority of fellow Rwandese from obtaining passports as advised by Kigali so that they are integrated in Zambian communities under a local integration program.

Abel Buhungu, charge de affaires at the embassy said as far the integration program was concerned, Kigali had engaged the Zambian government to see how best the exercise could be undertaken but expressed concerns that some its nationals were discouraging others.

The Zambian government has said out of a total of 3,717 Rwandese in Zambia, only 19 had obtained passports to legally stay in the country. (DAILY NATION) Endit