Zambia and Angola have begun discussions over the possibility of re-establishing direct air andrail links between them, officials here said on Thursday. The links would be potentially vital for landlocked Zambia to ship itsminerals overseas.

Abel Chambeshi, the Zambian transport and communications minister, said his government was right now considering giving permission to the Angolan airlines -- Linhas Aereas de Angola (TAAG) -- to operate a direct air passenger service between Lusaka and Luanda.

TAAG five years ago used to operate flights between Lusaka and Luanda, but the operation was discontinued when tension arose between the two neighboring countries.

This was after the Angolan government of President Jose Eduardodos Santos bitterly accused the regime of Zambian former PresidentFrederick Chiluba of ill-disguised support for the ex-rebel movement UNITA.

Relations quickly became cordial, however, after Chiluba left office and was replaced by Mwanawasa in 2002.

And now, apart from the proposed re-establishment of a direct air-link between their capitals, the two governments are mulling over the proposal of resurrecting the Benguela Railway line.

Bob Samakai, permanent secretary at the ministry of transport and communication, said the Zambian government is in the process of signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a private company known as Northwest Rail, which would build a rail link from North-Western Province to the original Benguela Railway line.

The line was once a trans-Africa rail link connecting landlocked Zambia's copper mines to those in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the vital Atlantic Ocean ports of Lobitoand Benguela in Angola.

Stretching over a distance of more than 1,500 km from Zambia's second city of Ndola to Lobito, the line is now seen as a potential lifeline for the planned mining activities in the North-Western Province of Zambia, especially from the new mines of Kansanshi and Lumwana.

Source: Xinhua