DISCZambia

**__ Country Profile __**
A. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 1. official name of country: Zambia 2. climate: tropical, modified by altitude, rainy season from October to April 3. map: a. location: Southern Africa, some border countries are Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe b. physical features: Some of Zambia’s physical features are the high plateaus with some hills, mountains and the Zambezi River 15 00 S, and 30 00 E. (what would one see in the country in the way of mountains, deserts, plains, major rivers, coast lines, etc.) c. 752,614 sq. km   B.  POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY 4. type of government: republic names of government officials: President Rupiah BANDA, Vice President George KUNA political parties: 5. capital: Lusaka 6. international organization affiliations: 7. size of armed forces C. CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY 8. official language: English other languages spoken: Bemba, Kaonda, Lozi, Lunda, Luvale, Nyanja, Tonga, etc. ethnic composition: 98.7% African, 1.1% European 0.2% other major religions: 50%-75% Christian, 24%-49% Muslim and Hindu, 1% indiginous 9. population: 11,669,534 population growth rate: 1.654% in 2008 (estimated) population distribution: 10. major cities: Lusaka, Livingstone, Ndola, Kitwe 11. infant mortality rate: 100.96 death out of 1,000 live births average life expectancy: 38.59 years 38.49 years for males 38.7 years for females 12. teachers and doctors per population D. ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY 13. GDP: $16.1 billion estimated 2007 14. % of land that is arable used for agriculture: 6.3% 15. natural resources: Copper, cobalt, zinc, lead, coal, emeralds, gold, silver, uranium, and hydropower. 16. major agricultural products: corn, sorghum, rice, peanuts, sunflower seeds, vegetables, flowers, tobacco, cotton, sugarcane, cassava (tapioca), coffee, cattle, goats, pigs, poultry, milk, eggs, hides. industrial products: copper mining and processing, construction, foodstuffs, beverages, chemicals, textiles, fertilizer, horticulture. 17. major exports: copper/cobalt 64%, cobalt, electricity, tobacco, flowers, cotton. Major imports: machinery, transportation equipment, petroleum products, electricity, fertilizer, foodstuffs, clothing. 18. currency: Zambian kwacha (ZMK), ZMK per US dollar- 3,990.2 19. balance of trade:  $4.5 billion 20. historical events (time line format only since 1980)

Chemical and biological weapons are use of harmful and/or deadly chemical or biological agents as weapons of war. Chemical weapons are made up of poisonous chemical compounds whereas biological weapons use living microorganisms. Weapons that contain the poisonous chemical products of living organisms are known as toxin weapons and are sometimes classified differently than chemical weapons. All these weapons can cause injury several ways; death and or injury when inhaled, injury with contact with skin or through digestion of contaminated food. You can disperse these weapons in various ways such as firing artillery shells that burst in mid air or using air planes o spray agents over a certain area. If it released out doors, whether can change the outcome such as rain. Rain will reduce the effectiveness. Wind can spread the chemicals in an area that was not expected to go to broadening the contaminated area. These weapons were used in World War I (1914-1918). They were also used in the Iraq-Iran War (1980-1988). There was a rare terrorist attack in Tokyo subway in 1955 using these weapons.
 * __Background __**:

__**U.N. Involvement** :__ The 1972 Biological Weapons Convention and the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention are the most recent international agreements prohibiting these types of weapons. Both have been signed by many countries. Nevertheless, analysts contend that follow__i__ng the  I ran-Iraq War, more countries began to secretly develop chemical and biological weapons, and the threat of their use has become greater. Iraq in particular was accused of stockpiling such weapons. Iraqi resistance to United Nations weapons inspections in the late 1990s led to a new round of inspections in late 2002 and early 2003. The administration of United States president George W. Bush, however, decided that the Iraqi regime of President Saddam Hussein had failed to cooperate with weapons inspectors and was attempting to conceal its chemical and biological weapons. In March 2003 the United States and Britain invaded Iraq and overthrew the Hussein government.

Zambia has agreed with and signed the Biological Weapons Convention and acceded the effectiveness from January 15, 2008 becoming the 116th state to party the treaty. Zambia being a sponsor to a draft resolution. According to a draft resolution entitled "Nuclear disarmament", the Assembly, seized of the danger of the use of weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons, in terrorist acts and the urgent need for concerted international efforts to control and overcome it, would recognize that, in view of recent political developments, the time was now opportune for all the nuclear-weapon States to take effective disarmament measures with a view to the elimination of those weapons. Possible solutions to prevent the use of these weapons is to keep going with creating treaties such as the Biological Weapons Convention. Creating these would help other countries see the severity in trying to reduce the use of these harmful weapons. Not only creating more treaties, strengthening the ones that have already been created would help. If we strengthen the recent treaties, the countries that have already signed it will have to stick with it and this will help prevent the use of the weapons because they cannot go against their word without being severely punished. __ http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=761558349 http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2002/issue2/0202p73_combating_biological_weapons.html http://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B9C2E/(httpNewsByYear_en)/E0D6CCA8207734E6C1257404005DC333?OpenDocument http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2001/gadis3212.doc.htm __
 * __Country Policy/Possible Solutions: __**