Lieutenant Christopher Mwamba Luchembe (born 1960) is a former Zambia Army Lieutenant who staged the

1990 Zambian coup d'état attempt The 1990 Zambian coup d'état attempt was a military coup d'état attempt that took place in Zambia on 1 July 1990. The coup lasted no more than 6 hours and took place between 3 and 9 A.M. when the coup's leader, Lieutenant Mwamba Luchembe of th ...

during the one-party state era of Zambian President

Kenneth Kaunda Kenneth Kaunda (28 April 1924 – 17 June 2021), also known as KK, was a Zambian politician who served as the first president of Zambia from 1964 to 1991. He was at the forefront of the struggle for independence from Northern Rhodesia, British ...

in 1990. His action came amidst widespread calls for multiparty democracy. On July 1, 1990 Luchembe announced in the radio studios of the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) that the Zambia Army had taken over the government and he cited riots of the previous week as reasons for his action; about 27 people had died in the riots, while more than 100 were wounded. Although Lieutenant Luchembe's coup attempt against President Kaunda failed, it weakened Kaunda's political power, which was already shaky after three days of rioting.

Arrest

Lieutenant Mwamba Luchembe was captured by soldiers and was escorted from the Zambian National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) radio studios and taken to the outskirts of the capital,

Lusaka Lusaka ( ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was abo ...

. "I wanted to take over the government but Kaunda's puppets are stopping me," he said, pointing to the soldiers surrounding him. "These are Kaunda's puppets."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luchembe, Mwamba 20th-century Zambian politicians 1960 births Living people