FOREIGN affairs minister Joe Malanji says the Emmanuel Milingo ‘disappearance’ issue is a complicated matter requiring the family to give a consolidated position before the government moves in.

He said if the former Catholic archbishop had left the country against his will, the matter must be reported to the police by his family. On Monday, family spokesperson George Zulu asked the government to take keen interest in Milingo’s wellbeing. Zulu said the family was being kept in the dark on what was going on with Milingo and that it was seeking government intervention over his ‘disappearance’.

A fortnight ago, Milingo, 88, was admitted to the University Teaching Hospital with suspected malaria. But in an interview on Monday, Milingo’s wife, Maria Sung, had forced a discharge of the archbishop against advice from doctors and took the patient out of the country without the family’s knowledge.

“…the wife forced a discharge, so they discharged him against medical advice and took him to Twikatane. What we didn’t know was already she had tickets, so they escaped. They are in [South] Korea right now. They left on Thursday on Ethiopian Airways. By the time we wanted to see him as a family, he was gone. So the family is so disturbed. She sent me a message that we are in Korea. No consent whatsoever,” Zulu said.

He said the family was disturbed by the development and was appealing to the government to intervene before it was too late.

“I think it is high time we should get concerned with his life. What we know is that the Moonies [Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church] was founded on the search for peace, peace which starts from the family. That is the core value of the Moons but we have not found any peace, we have not lived as a family with archbishop [Milingo]. We have not lived as a family so everybody is disturbed by this development…we would want the [Zambian] Ambassador to [South] Korea to visit him, to get involved,” said Zulu.

But Malanji said there was need to establish the basis upon which government could intervene.

“If the family of archbishop Milingo believes that he has been taken against his will, the family must first come together and give a consolidated position on the matter,” said Malanji. “It would then require that a report is made to the police to secure the necessary court order which would form the basis upon which to approach the [South] Korean authorities in order to secure his return to Zambia. We must also bear in mind that the wife being the next of kin also has a say in the matter as it stands.”

Meanwhile, Zulu said the Milingo family has a planned to meeting this Saturday to discuss the way forward on the matter.

He said reporting the matter to the police was one of the options the family might consider during the meeting.

“The family will be meeting. Those who are in Lusaka will be meeting on Saturday. You know this is a very touching development. Everybody is affected in one way or the other but we have got to go like a responsible family, we will sit down and discuss. Then the family will guide how we will follow up this matter,” said Zulu.