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Hakainde Hichilema during a press briefing at his home in Lusaka, after winning the elections.
Newly elected Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema on Sunday appointed new military leaders and replaced all police commissioners after vowing to end the brutality of the previous regime.
Right-wing groups have accused Hichilema’s predecessor Edgar Lungu of waging a “brutal crackdown” on dissent, with police violence killing at least five people since his official election in 2016.
Hichilema, who took office last week, has been arrested more than a dozen times during his political career and has made restoring freedoms a pillar of his election promises.
READ | Millionaire “Bottle Boy”: Meet the New President of Zambia, Hakainde Hichilema
In a televised address to the nation, Hichilema on Sunday announced the appointment of new army and air force chiefs, as well as a new chief of the defense wing for the southern African country.
“I am relieving all the police commissioners with immediate effect,” he added, without giving the reasons for the replacements.
He also urged the police to carry out thorough checks before detaining suspects, stressing that “no one should be arrested until investigations are completed”.
Hichilema beat longtime rival Lungu in the Aug. 12 polls by a landslide of nearly a million votes – a victory hailed as a democratic milestone for opposition movements in Africa.
In his inaugural address on Tuesday, he vowed to crack down on political “thugs” and crackdown, reassuring independent media that they would no longer face tear gas or shutdowns.
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