Radio station reports that officers fired teargas at protesters
opposed to President Bingu wa Mutharika in capital, Lilongwe
Reuters
Friday July 22 2011
guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/21/malawi-protests
Police fired teargas at anti-government demonstrators in Malawi's
capital, a radio station reported, after a day of nationwide unrest.
MIJ 90.3 FM, a private radio station, said demonstrators clashed with
security forces in Lilongwe.
The situation in the southern African country's commercially central
second city, Blantyre, was returning to normal, however.
Shops in the city reopened after being shuttered during clashes
between soldiers, riot police and marchers demanding the resignation
of President Bingu wa Mutharika, although some banks remained closed.
Blantyre police spokesman Davie Chingwalu said the riots had caused
extensive property damage and several demonstrators and police had
been injured. A number of arrests had been made, he said.
There were reports that police in the northern city of Mzuzu had shot
a protester dead, although police did not confirm this.
The outburst of public anger in the landlocked nation of 13 million
people was directed mainly at Mutharika, a former World Bank economist
who was first elected in 2004 and has presided over six years of high-
pace but aid-funded economic growth.
The sheen has come off this year as Mutharika has become embroiled in
a diplomatic row with Britain, Malawi's biggest donor, over a leaked
embassy cable that referred to him as "autocratic and intolerant of
criticism".
The cable led to the expulsion of Britain's ambassador to Lilongwe. In
response, Britain kicked out Malawi's representative in London and
suspended aid worth $550m (?340m) over the next four years.
The freeze has left a yawning hole in the budget of a country that has
relied on handouts for 40% of its revenues, and intensified a dollar
supply crunch threatening Malawian currency the kwacha's peg at 150 to
the dollar.
The lack of foreign currency has also pushed up fuel prices and
exacerbated an already chronic energy shortage.
guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2011
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