FRED CHELA & DAN LANGEVELDT, Blantyre | Monday 4.00pm.
POST-election violence which erupted in Malawi’s opposition stronghold in the north of the country on Friday has left at least one person dead and ten mosques razed to the ground, police and the Muslim Association of Malawi said on Monday.
The violence began in the northern mountainous district of Rumphi, home to Chakufwa Chihana, leader of the Alliance for Democracy (AFORD) which entered an electoral alliance with the former ruling Malawi Congress Party.
Yahaya M’madi, secretary general of the Muslim Association of Malawi, said angry alliance supporters attacked mosques on Friday afternoon when news began filtering through that Muslim President Muluzi had narrowly won the elections.
Ten mosques in Rumphi, the northern city of Mzuzu, Mzimba and the northern border district of Karonga were razed during the riots. Other mosques were looted and stoned by protestors, as was a mosque in the capital, Lilongwe.
In President Muluzi’s southern home district of Mangochi, alliance supporters also attacked mosques and UDF offices.
MCP secretary general Heatherwick Ntaba also condemned the violence but said it is spontaneous grassroots protest at perceived election rigging by the UDF. “People are simply reacting to the UDF’s shameless rigging of the vote in rural regions. The UDF won more votes than there were registered voters in some regions and all we can ask is where did all the votes come from?” said Ntaba on Monday.
Malawi chief electoral officer, Roosevelt Gondwe, confirmed on Monday that the Electoral Commission will probe apparent ballot box tampering in the southern Phalombe district after significantly more votes than registered voters were counted. — African Eye News Service