Lazarous Kapambwe (born December 31, 1959) is a Zambian diplomat,[1] the 17th Ambassador of the Republic of Zambia to the United States of America since January, 2020.
[2] He has served as Zambia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York from 18 June 2007[3] to 31st December 2019.
[4] In February 2020, former Foreign Affairs Minister Harry Kalaba announced Kapambwe had been expelled from the US, when he was scheduled to present his credentials to President Donald Trump[7] in response to how the Zambian government unfairly treated the American Ambassador to Zambia Daniel Foote who was implicitly expelled from Zambia by then President Edgar Lungu in 2019[1].
However, Foreign Affairs Minister Joseph Malanji stated that he was just swapped positions with Ngosa Simbyakula who was based at Zambia's Mission in Washington DC and the reason he was in Zambia at the time was because he was waiting for a bilateral visa for him to operate in Washington.
[8] Vice President Inonge Wina also added that no Zambian diplomat has been expelled by the US Government in retaliation to the expulsion of that country's Ambassador to Zambia Daniel Foote.