Former Zambian President Frederick Chiluba says he cannot see any police around his house and has not been told that he is under 24-hour guard.

He was reacting to statements by Zambia's Home Minister that Mr Chiluba is under round-the-clock police surveillance.

The Home Affairs Minister, Luckson Mapushi and his deputy have both said that that Mr Chiluba is being guarded to keep him "indoors" and stop him being harmed by an angry public, according to the government.

The mood in the nation is against him

Kennedy Sakeni, Deputy Home Affairs Minister

But Mr Chiluba told the BBC's Focus on Africa that he is not aware of this or of the need for protection.

"I'm sure not all the people hate me," he said.

He did admit that he was staying at home, saying: "Because of the instability, I don't want to be accused of inciting people so I keep myself to my home."

He said that the police had asked him not to leave the country but had not taken his passport away.

The Zambian Government version is that it has ordered the police to give Mr Chiluba protection to prevent unruly citizens from harming him, the Home Minister told the French news agency, AFP, on Thursday.

"Our assessment is that some people may decide to harm him," he said.

The BBC's Penny Dale in Lusaka said this means Mr Chiluba is under virtual house arrest, although this has been denied by the authorities and now by Mr Chiluba himself.

Sneaking out

The government move follows the high court decision on Wednesday to stop any prosecution of Mr Chiluba on corruption charges until the court has decided whether parliament's lifting of his immunity from prosecution is legal.

Mr Chiluba asked the court to nullify the parliamentary decision on the grounds that he was not given a chance to defend himself, according to his lawyer Robert Simeza.

There have been public calls for Mr Chiluba's arrest

In his interview with the BBC, Mr Chiluba denied that he had defrauded the government and demanded that justice be done in his case. On Tuesday, parliament voted to lift his immunity from prosecution after President Levy Mwanawasa outlined corruption charges against him last week.

The Deputy Home Affairs Minister, Kennedy Sakeni, told Reuters news agency that "Chiluba has been placed under surveillance in order to safeguard public interest".

"It is a precaution to make sure that he stays indoors and is not harmed by anybody because the mood in the nation is against him. If Chiluba sneaks out, Zambians will not take that kindly," he said.

But the BBC's Penny Dale in Lusaka told News Online that there was no obvious threat to Mr Chiluba from the public.

Not alone

The actions against the former president are part of an anti-corruption drive by President Mwanawasa.

On Wednesday, the president said that anyone caught up in the corruption drag net would be accorded a fair trial.

Despite the action against Mr Chiluba and several other leading public figures, civil society groups continue to demand more action, pointing out that many of Mr Mwanawasa's cabinet ministers also served under Mr Chiluba.

"It is clear that Chiluba did not steal alone," a spokesman for the anti-corruption campaign group, the Oasis Forum, said on Wednesday.

No date has been set for the review of the parliamentary decision on Mr Chiluba's immunity.