Zambia slum residents riot over rules to curb cholera outbreak

[January 12, 2018] LUSAKA (Reuters) - Residents in a slum in Zambia's capital are rioting over a ban on street vending that was imposed to control a cholera outbreak, the government said on Friday.

Local Government and Housing Minister Vincent Mwale, whose ministry jointly imposed the ban with the Health Ministry, told Reuters that police had been sent to the densely populated Kanyama township to stop the riots.

"Police are already in the area," Mwale said, referring to the Kanyama slum near the center of Lusaka.

Peter Zulu, a local resident, said the rioters had blocked Los Angeles road, a major thoroughfare, and that police had fired teargas to try to disperse them.

Zambia on Sunday declared a curfew in Kanyama township, which has been badly affected by a cholera outbreak which has killed more than 60 people in Lusaka since October.

(Reporting by Chris Mfula; Editing by Alexander Winning and Alison Williams)

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