Zambia just concluded a controversial election, and there has been a noteworthy change in the United States' attitude towards this country.
According to Semafor, Frank Garcia, the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in the Trump administration, attended the reelection ceremony of President Hakainde Sheikulyam and met with him separately. The United States Department of State stated that it hopes to continue deepening its partnership with Zambia.
The problem is that this election has left quite significant human rights concerns.
Hichilema defeated the main opposition candidate, Brian Mundubile, with a vote share of about 60%. Observers generally believe that even without controversy, Mundubile would have won. However, the election process involved issues such as alleged manipulation of votes, military intervention, and arrests of opposition supporters. Even more controversial was the sudden blockade of the Zambian court during the deadline for opposition parties to challenge the election results, effectively blocking any legal appeal channels. Mundubile and several of his allies later faced charges of treason.
Former Minister Mutotwe Kafwaya was also shot and killed during a police operation against opposition figures.
Therefore, the American Democratic Party is significantly more aggressive than the Trump administration. Jeanne Shaheen, the Democratic leader of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, stated that the post-election violence and arbitrary arrests in Zambia constitute a "regression in democracy." Gregory Meeks, the Democratic leader of the House Foreign Relations Committee, demanded that Secretary of State Rubio investigate the death of Kafwaya and allow the courts to handle electoral disputes.
But it seems that the Trump administration is even less willing to alienate Hickey-Lehmann over this issue.
An important reason is copper.
Zambia is one of Africa's most important copper-producing countries, with copper accounting for approximately 70% of the country's export revenue. As power grids expand, electric vehicles, and AI data centers drive increased demand for copper, the metal is becoming increasingly strategic.
More importantly, Zambia is located at the end of the Lubicon Corridor, a corridor that has been operated by the United States for many years.
This route is planned to start from the port of Lobito along the Atlantic coast in Angola, pass through Congo (Democratic Republic), and connect to the Copper Belt of Zambia. One of the purposes is to make it easier to transport minerals such as copper and cobalt from southern central Africa to Western markets. After Trump took office, he did not abandon this Biden-era project. In June this year, the United States and Zambia even expanded a $491 million aid program to fund the construction of infrastructure for key minerals, aiming to improve the roads along the Lobito corridor.
This also makes the current relations between the United States and Mexico particularly delicate.
Just a few months ago, the two countries even publicly clashed over mineral issues. The Zambian government accused the United States of trying to tie up to a maximum of $2 billion in health cooperation with preferential access for American companies to key minerals, and outright rejected such conditions.
In other words, the United States has demonstrated this year how much it wants to integrate into Zambia's mineral sector.
Now, as the issues of human rights and elections in Zambia come to the fore, the choices faced by the Trump administration are quite realistic: should pressure be exerted on Hichilema for democratic reasons, or should the administration continue to run a government that controls copper mines and also holds key positions in the Lobito corridor?
Currently, Washington has chosen the latter option.
This does not mean that the Trump administration will publicly acknowledge Zambia’s repressive actions, but it at least indicates that under the ‘America First’ African policy, democracy and human rights are increasingly giving way to mineral resources, supply chains, and commercial interests.
It seems that Chichirema also understood this point.
For today's United States, a Zambia that is less democratic but willing to discuss copper mines and railways might be more important than a Zambia whose political system conforms to Washington's traditional values but refuses to cooperate on resource issues.
