On 24 October 1964, the Republic of Zambia was formed, replacing the territory which had formerly been known as Northern Rhodesia. Fifty years on, Andrew Sardanis provides a sympathetic but critical insider's account of Zambia, from independence to the present. He paints a stark picture of Northern Rhodesia at decolonisation and the problems of the incoming government, presented with an immense uphill task of rebuilding the infrastructure of government and administration - civil service, law, local government and economic development.

Sardanis was a minister at the heart of the...

On 24 October 1964, the Republic of Zambia was formed, replacing the territory which had formerly been known as Northern Rhodesia. Fifty years on, Andrew Sardanis provides a sympathetic but critical insider's account of Zambia, from independence to the present. He paints a stark picture of Northern Rhodesia at decolonisation and the problems of the incoming government, presented with an immense uphill task of rebuilding the infrastructure of government and administration - civil service, law, local government and economic development. As a friend and colleague of many of the most prominent...

'Africa is a lost cause.' This is a cynical view held widely in the West, in much of the world and even in Africa. Many people in the old European colonial powers - and not only the dwindling band of 'old Africa hands' who served in the colonies - are in despair, lamenting maladministration, corruption, civil and inter-state wars, poverty, famine and the seemingly unstoppable march of AIDS. And all in a great continent with abundant human and natural resources. The other side of the coin is that hope is beginning to dawn as Africa's plight is recognised by the Africans themselves and its...