Zambia suspends opposition Members of Parliament

    Forty-eight Zambian Members of Parliament from the opposition UPND have been suspended for 30 days for boycotting President Edgar Lungu's state of the nation address.

    They refused to attend in March as they were challenging the president's victory in last year's election.
    Parliament speaker, Patrick Matibini, described the Members of Parliament boycott as gross misconduct, adding that the ban takes effect immediately.
    The suspended 48 Members of Parliament represents nearly the entire parliamentary party of 58.