LUSAKA, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Zambian Finance Minister Ng'andu Magande has warned that cultural associations should not be used to advance tribal politics, according to Sunday Post.

    Speaking on Friday when he officiated at a fundraising dinner dance in Lusaka, Magande said people who promoted tribal politics should go back to their villages and remain there.

    "Each one of us must be proud of our culture, but let me warn that this does not mean that we should look down upon the cultures of other people, neither should we use cultural associations for tribal politics," he said.

    The minister said during the struggle for independence, culture was used to mobilize people towards a common cause and the diversity of the Zambian culture was the pride of every government since independence and that it had continued to hold the nation together in peace.

    "It is therefore incumbent upon all of us that have been entrusted with the privilege of managing cultural affairs of the people that we do not only preserve these cultures, but that we use them to promote national unity," he said.

    Magande hailed the Luvale people of North Western Province for putting Zambia on the world map through their culture.

    "The proclamation of the Luvale culture as a masterpiece of oral and intangible cultural heritage of humanity by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has indeed put our nation on the world map," he said.

    Magande also said that by promoting different cultures, Zambiais developing a new product in tourism and that cultural tourism was more affordable to the majority of Zambians than eco-tourism.