Campaign to Stop Political Violence as Zambia is emitting more than sufficient signals of an impending deeper political crisis and possible open violent conflict to warrant urgent and vigorous preventive action.

The international community could take a wait-and-see attitude, as it has imprudently done in other cases with these warning signs. But then it would be too late to be effective when the larger collapse and violence occurs that many predict. The only option left would be the typically costly, reactive response of providing humanitarian aid and debating a peacekeeping force, for which global resources are already overstretched.