Refugees ‘hounded like dogs’ by the police and army despite protests by the United Nations Refugee Agency and civil society
Reiterating an already historical court ruling, the president’s election has once again been rebuffed
Mgeme Kalilani, the president’s spokesperson, described the ruling as “a serious miscarriage of justice and an attack on the foundations of the country’s democracy…”
Top court says that electoral irregularities were ‘widespread, systematic and grave’
About 3 500 marchers headed towards Parliament where a two-day vigil is planned against the result of the May 21 presidential vote
The Tripartite Free Trade Area to be established by 2015 will enable greater intra-African trade, writes Maite Nkoana-Mashabane.
Malawi journalists were beaten by police in churches and hospitals in Lilongwe, and were blamed for the demonstrations that swept the country last week.
A Malawian gay couple who received a presidential pardon for sodomy have called President Bingu wa Mutharika a "caring father".
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/ 18 September 2008
Raphael Mweninguwe is forced into a close encounter with the notorious township ‘taxi’.
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.
Former Malawian president Bakili Muluzi was arrested in connection with an alleged coup plot as he returned home from Britain on Sunday, his lawyer said. Five members of Muluzi’s United Democratic Front and three army generals were arrested last week on suspicion of being part of a plot to bring him to power, and an arrest warrant was issued for Muluzi.
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’s tobacco industry has been in turmoil after wildly fluctuating prices led protesting farmers to force the closure of the auction floors. This year’s tobacco sales started on a very high note with prices reaching the phenomenal price of $11 per kilogramme. The high prices did not last, however.
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.
While the European Union has wanted a conclusion to its economic partnership agreements (EPAs) as soon as possible, the Malawian government has been staving off a deal. The deadline for EPAs at the end of last year passed without Malawi signing — in contrast to other African states.
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/ 28 February 2008
Low prices continue to haunt Malawian tea on the auction floors, a bitter irony for some producers as the country is regarded as the pioneer of tea-growing in Africa. Commercial production started way back in the 1880s during the British colonial era. Large tea estates have since then been a feature of the southern region of the country.
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/ 31 January 2008
Malawi finally has to face up to the dilemma of choosing between being a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) or to stick with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) if it is to continue receiving funding from the European Union.
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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.
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/ 24 December 2007
Nadège Shabani, a refugee from Burundi, is a successful businesswoman plying her trade in Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe. She owns a thriving beauty salon, restaurant and a clothes shop. She is an example of the foreigners who are being accused of ”taking away” business opportunities from locals.
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/ 14 November 2007
Malawi, which is severely affected by corruption, has appointed a seasoned anti-graft lawyer as its new Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), a parliamentary spokesperson said on Wednesday. The spokesperson of Parliament’s public appointments committee said that Alexious Nampota has been confirmed as the new DPP.
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/ 5 September 2007
Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame said on Wednesday that his country was no longer interested in joining the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in order to avoid ”overlapping” roles with other blocs. ”As a country we need to rationalise on which organisations to join in order to avoid overlaps,” he told journalists.
Malawi’s President Bingu wa Mutharika threatened on Tuesday to close Parliament if a budget crisis threatening to cut off services in the impoverished nation was not resolved within two days. The 2007/08 budget debate, which should have been concluded by June 30, was suspended last month because the opposition first wanted a dispute settled.
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.
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/ 29 November 2006
A judge in Malawi on Wednesday allowed a coalition of human rights groups to proceed with a legal challenge to United States pop star Madonna’s adoption of an African baby boy. Judge Andrew Nyirenda ruled that the coalition of 67 rights groups could be regarded as ”friends of the court”.
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/ 13 November 2006
A judge began hearing a closed-door legal challenge on Monday to pop star Madonna’s bid to adopt a baby boy from Malawi. The Human Rights Consultative Committee claims the government broke its own laws by granting an 18-month interim adoption order which has allowed the singer to bring up David Banda outside Malawi.
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/ 30 October 2006
The United Nations’ special envoy for HIV and Aids in Africa accused the world’s wealthiest countries on Sunday of failing to deliver on promises to increase aid to the most impoverished continent. ”Where is the G8 money ? Where is the promise?… The world is running out of patience. Why has the G8 defaulted?” Stephen Lewis told reporters in Malawi.
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/ 27 October 2006
A judge in Malawi adjourned to November 13 a hearing into an application by child rights groups trying to block the adoption of a Malawian boy by pop star Madonna. Yohane Banda, father of one-year-old David, went to the court in Lilongwe, saying his presence was a symbolic protest against the legal moves to halt the adoption.
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/ 20 October 2006
A judge on Friday postponed a hearing on a lawsuit by human rights groups challenging the government’s decision to allow American pop star Madonna to start adoption procedures for a motherless, 13-month-old Malawian boy. Judge Andrew Nyirenda postponed a hearing on the case until next Friday.
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/ 16 October 2006
Human rights groups want Malawi’s courts to review a ruling allowing Madonna to adopt a child from Malawi, an impoverished, Aids-stricken Southern African country, according to one of dozens of organisations involved. Boniface Mandere of Eye of the Child, a local child protection society, told the media on Monday a coalition had banded together.
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/ 13 October 2006
Pop diva Madonna left Malawi on Friday after receiving official permission to adopt a one-year-old boy from the impoverished Southern African country. Her departure brought to a climax a controversial week-long charity visit during which her aides denied earlier reports by government officials that she planned to adopt a child.
Madonna’s mission to help Malawi’s Aids orphans remained shrouded in mystery on Friday with a scheduled meeting between the pop star and a government minister failing to take place. The celebrity made a secretive visit to an orphanage near the capital, while rumours that she was to adopt a child persisted.