Norway shuts down embassy in Zambia

Norway has shut down its embassy in Zambia, saying it was pointless to keep funding a country which did not show commitment to improving its own management.



According to The Post, Norwegian Ambassador Arve Ofstad cited corruption as one of the reasons why his country was moving out of the southern African country.

"There was a feeling that the anti-corruption fight has been going very much up and down and we feel that when a country doesn’t make enough use of its own resources. It’s not doing well enough in terms of public resource management, in terms of its distributional policies, then we should leave," Ofstad was quoted as saying.

Ofstad said that remaining in Zambia was not viable due to the lack of accountability and progress, Lusaka Times reported.

"As of today… we found that it was more necessary to keep our embassies elsewhere. Sorry, but that’s reality," Ofstad said.

Reacting to the development, opposition Rainbow Party national youth chairperson McDonald Mulongoti, said this was a clear indication that President Edgar Lungu had failed the country.