Chiluba, Frederick Jacob Titus (1943- )

Zambian politician and trade unionist, president 1991-2002. In 1993 he was forced to declare a state of emergency, following the discovery of documents suggesting an impending coup. He later carried out a major reorganization of his cabinet but failed to silence his critics. He secured re-election in November 1996.

Raised in the Zambian copperbelt, he became a shop steward in his early 20s and rose rapidly to become chair general of the 300,000-member Zambian Congress of Trades Unions at the age of 31. After a series of strikes in 1981, he spent three months in prison, during which time he became a ‘born-again’ Christian. When one-party rule officially ended in 1990, Chiluba entered the political arena, forming and becoming leader of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD). As MMD candidate in the 1991 presidential elections, he won 75% of the votes, ousting Kenneth Kaunda. He was criticized for the harshness of his economic policies and accused of favouring particular ethnic groups in his cabinet and other appointments.