Malawi’s President Bingu wa Mutharika won re-election on Friday, but the opposition said he rigged the vote.
Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika took the lead according to official figures on Wednesday in an election seen as a test of political stability.
Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika took a strong early lead on Wednesday in the vote count from the country’s presidential election.
Malawians voted in presidential and parliamentary elections on Tuesday that could rekindle political instability in the southern African country.
Former Malawi president Bakili Muluzi has accused the government of fabricating a treason case against him for political reasons and demanded that a court give him bail unconditionally. Muluzi made the charge in a court filing on Tuesday, two days after he was arrested on suspicion of being involved in a plot to overthrow the government.
Malawi’s announcement that it had foiled a fourth coup attempt in four years is fuelling suspicions of growing government paranoia and doubts over chances for a political deal crucial to donor funding. The arrest of senior opposition figures over the latest suspected plot has left crisis talks between the government and opposition near collapse.
Malawi has arrested two senior army officers for plotting to overthrow the government, police said on Wednesday, a day after the arrest of two opposition leaders on the same charges. The detentions have left crisis talks between the government and the opposition on the brink of collapse, which threatens to derail vital international donor programmes.
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/ 14 January 2008
Malawi has cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan after 41 years and established links with China, which has become a major economic power in Africa. ”We have decided to switch from Taiwan to mainland China after careful consideration of the benefits that we will be getting from mainland China,” Foreign Affairs Minister Joyce Banda told a press conference on Monday.
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/ 14 January 2008
Tobacco production in Malawi is expected to rise to 150-million kilograms this season, encouraged by higher prices and good rains, the Tobacco Association of Malawi said on Monday. The expected increase in prices follows a slump in production last year, when growers only managed to produce 140-million kilograms.
Madonna arrived in Malawi on Monday with the young local boy she is adopting, amid rumours she intended to adopt a second child from an orphanage the impoverished Southern African nation. Wearing dark glasses and a black outfit, Madonna carried Banda, now about 18 months old, as she walked onto the tarmac.