It’s not every day that a memoir is deemed so offensive that it warrants a response from a country’s embassy, but here we are: The Zambian embassy in London has a few choice words for Louise Linton, a Scottish actress who has been roundly lambasted for her dumb, tone-deaf book that recalls her time volunteering in the country.
In Congo’s Shadow has already been pulled from shelves thanks to its passel of inaccuracies and inclusion of the phrase “long angel hair,” but Abigail Chaponda, first secretary of press at the High Commission of Zambia in London, has something she’d like to add. According to the Daily Telegraph in Australia, Chaponda writes:
“Ms Linton presented to the world a savage Zambia, at war.
“It is a historic fact that Zambia has never been at war but rather has been home to thousands of refugees fleeing wars from other African countries.
“The Congo war has never spilt into Zambia. It is southern Africa’s oasis of peace.”
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“Those who work in the area of HIV and Aids understand the need to respect the confidentiality of the people they work with,” the commission said.
“Clearly Ms Linton does not seem to take this into consideration nor does she seem to understand that freedom of expression comes with responsibility.”
The statement continued: “The overwhelming condemnation of her falsified memoirs by both Zambians and friends of Zambia worldwide attests to the fact that many have seen through her intentions to tarnish the image of a very friendly and peaceful country.
“We join many others who have taken time to condemn the stereotyping of Africa and Zambia as a backward country in a jungle, thinking which is not of the 21st century.”
Linton is also dating Trump’s finance chair. Please, please don’t procreate.
Screenshot via YouTube/Blue Ribbon Productions
