Editing Foreign relations of Zambia (section)

==History==
[[File:Zambia123f.jpg|thumb|Kenneth Kaunda visiting communist Romania's leader, [[Nicolae Ceauşescu]], in 1970.]]
[[File:Carter and Kaunda.png|thumb|Kaunda talking privately with U.S. President [[Jimmy Carter]] at the [[White House]] in 1978]]
[[File:Levy Mwanawasa and Colin Powell 2004-09-23.jpg|thumb|U.S. Secretary of State [[Colin Powell]] and President of Zambia [[Levy Mwanawasa]] meet in New York City during the 59th [[UN General Assembly]].]]

After independence in 1964, Zambia was one of the most vocal opponents to white [[minority rule]] and [[colonialism]]. President [[Kenneth Kaunda]], who held office 1964–1991, was a very visible advocate of change in Southern Africa. He actively supported [[UNITA]] during the Angolan liberation and [[Angolan Civil War|civil war]], [[SWAPO]] during their fight for Namibian independence from [[apartheid]] South Africa, [[Southern Rhodesia]] (now Zimbabwe), and the [[African National Congress]] in their fight against apartheid in South Africa.<ref name="Andy DeRoche 2016">Andy DeRoche, ''Kenneth Kaunda, the United States and Southern Africa'' (London: Bloomsbury, 2016).</ref>

Many of these organizations were based in Zambia during the 1970s and 1980s. For this reason South Africa as well as Rhodesia carried out military raids on targets inside Zambia. Zambia's support for the various liberation movements also caused problems for the Zambian economy, since it was heavily dependent on [[electricity supply]] and transportation through South Africa and Rhodesia. However these problems was partly solved by the [[Kariba Dam]] and the construction of the [[China|Chinese]] supported [[TAZARA|Tan-Zam]] railway.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

For their part in the liberations struggles, Zambia enjoys wide popularity among the countries they supported as well as all over Africa. For instance, former South African president [[Nelson Mandela]] often referred to the debt South Africa owes Zambia.<ref name="BBC1">{{cite web
| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5099962.stm
| title = Kenneth Kaunda: A life in power
| publisher = [[BBC]]
| access-date = 22 October 2006
| date = 26 June 2006
| archive-date = 6 January 2007
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070106042637/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5099962.stm
| url-status = live
}}</ref>

Before Zambian independence, Kaunda met with [[John F Kennedy]] while visiting the United States in 1961, and he would meet with Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford, [[Jimmy Carter]], Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush at the White House during his long presidency.<ref name="Andy DeRoche 2016"/> He also clashed with British prime minister [[Margaret Thatcher]] on several occasions, disliking her policy towards South Africa.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Clines|first=Francis|date=6 August 1986|title=Commonwealth Chiefs Rebuke Thatcher Harshly|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/08/06/world/commonwealth-chiefs-rebuke-thatcher-harshly.html|access-date=17 September 2020|archive-date=27 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210827234922/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/08/06/world/commonwealth-chiefs-rebuke-thatcher-harshly.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

As with most African states, Zambia was a member of the [[Non-Aligned Movement]] during the [[Cold War]], and is still today. The country hosted the [[3rd Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement]] in 1970. In practice Zambia was more to the [[Left (politics)|left]] than to the [[Right (politics)|right]] during the Cold War. The country had good relations with China and with [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]]. Kaunda is famous in Yugoslavia for crying openly at president [[Josip Broz Tito]]'s funeral.

Kaunda's successor, president [[Frederick Chiluba]] (1991–2002), also played an important role in African politics. His government played a constructive regional role sponsoring Angola peace talks that led to the 1994 [[Lusaka Protocols]]. Zambia has provided troops to UN [[peacekeeping]] initiatives in [[Mozambique]], [[Rwanda]], [[Angola]], and [[Sierra Leone]]. Zambia was the first African state to cooperate with the International Tribunal investigation of the 1994 [[Rwanda genocide]].

In 1998, Zambia took the lead in efforts to establish a cease-fire in the [[Democratic Republic of Congo]] (DRC). Zambia was active in the Congolese peace effort after the signing of a [[cease-fire]] agreement in Lusaka in July and August 1999, although activity diminished considerably after the Joint Military Commission tasked with implementing the ceasefire relocated to [[Kinshasa]] in September 2001.