Malawi

(MISA/IFEX) – On 20 June 2002, police in Malawi’s largest city Blantyre stopped a series of public debates organised by the Lilongwe Press Club to discuss the proposed amendment to the Malawi Constitution regarding the limits on the president’s term in office. The debates were supposed to be held in the three regional centres of […]

(MISA/IFEX) – At least 3,000 militant youths and women, members of the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF), besieged the premises of Blantyre Newspapers on Monday 20 May 2002. They were angered by the newspaper group’s stand against President Bakili Muluzi’s bid to run for an unconstitutional third term when his current term expires in 2004. […]

(MISA/IFEX) – Dumbo Lemani, Malawi presidential affairs minister and director general of the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) party, has sued “The Chronicle” weekly newspaper for aggravated damages. According to the writ of summons issued to the newspaper by the Malawi High Court, Lemani is taking issue with a story “The Chronicle” ran in its […]

(MISA/IFEX) – On Sunday 24 March 2002, Malawi police arrested three reporters belonging to “The Sun” newspaper for assaulting and harming a football coach at a shopping mall in the country’s commercial capital, Blantyre. Police spokesman George Chikowi said in an interview that the three reporters, Chikumbutso Mtumodzi, Thom Chiumia and Ken Ndanga, pounced on […]

(MISA/IFEX) – On 13 March 2002, the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) stormed the premises of the Blantyre Printing and Publishing (BP&P) group of companies, a parent body of Blantyre Newspapers Limited (BNL), publishers of the “Daily Times” and “Malawi News”, and impounded a number of vehicles belonging to various divisions of the conglomerate. The move […]

(MISA/IFEX) – On 22 February 2002, members of the ruling United Democratic Front’s (UDF) Young Democrats and National Intelligence Bureau (NIB, an official intelligence body) agents broke into the privately-owned “The Chronicle” newspaper’s offices in Lilongwe, where they abducted reporter Mallick Mnela and fled with him in an unmarked Land Rover vehicle. Publisher and editor-in-chief […]

(MISA/IFEX) – Please note that the printing company Design Printers is based in Lilongwe – and not Blantyre – as noted in the MISA Malawi alert issued on Wednesday 12 December 2001. MISA regrets the error. The corrected version follows: On Monday 10 December 2001, issue No. 352, Vol. 10, of “The Chronicle” failed to […]

(MISA/IFEX) – On Monday 10 December 2001, issue No. 352, Vol. 10, of “The Chronicle” failed to appear on the streets of Malawi due to the refusal of Design Printers, a Blantyre-based printing company, to print the issue. According to “The Chronicle” editor-in-chief Rob Jamieson, the printers refused to print the newspaper because of an […]

(MISA/IFEX) – Malawi’s “Daily Times” newspaper reported that the United Democratic Front (UDF) has drawn up a list of journalists to be assaulted for allegedly discrediting the ruling party. The UDF is reported to be planning to use a group of Young Democrats based in Ndirande, reportedly headed by Shire Buslines Chief Executive Humphrey Mvula […]

(IPI/IFEX) – In a 24 September 2001 letter to Malawian President Bakili Muluzi, IPI condemned the recent brutal attack by an armed gang on an independent journalist. According to information provided to IPI, on 19 September, Brian Ligomeka, a journalist with the Africa Eye News Service (AENS), suffered a pre-dawn raid at his home in […]

MISA/IFEX) – On 2 September 2001, journalist Chinyeke Tembo, editor of the anti-government weekly newspaper “People’s Eye”, was pulled out of a minibus and beaten by a group of people. Tembo told MISA that on Sunday 2 September, he was travelling to Blantyre’s business district of Limbe in a public minibus when a group of […]

(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Malawian President Bakili Muluzi, RSF protested the increasingly tough repression against the independent press. RSF asked the head of state to publicly confirm his commitment to press freedom and to act quickly so that media professionals can work freely and safely throughout the country. “It is your responsibility to […]

(FXI/IFEX) – The FXI has condemned the attack of African Eye News Service’s (AENS) senior correspondent in Malawi, Brian Ligomeka. Ligomeka was formally accredited by the Malawi government to cover the Southern African Development Community (SADC) head of states summit in Malawi’s commercial capital of Blantyre. The journalist went to the city’s Chileka Airport on […]

(MISA/IFEX) – John Saini, publisher of Malawi’s quarterly magazine “Pride”, was threatened on Saturday 11 August 2001 at Chileka International Airport by suspected ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) party officials as President Bakili Muluzi was welcoming leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The leaders are in Malawi to attend an SADC summit. The […]

(MISA/IFEX) – On Sunday 12 August 2001, Brian Ligomeka, a 29-year-old stringer for the South African-based “Africa Eye News Service”, was abducted by Young Democrats from the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) party at Chileka Airport in Blantyre. The journalist was there covering the arrival of heads of state currently attending the 2001 Southern African […]

(MISA/IFEX) – Early on the morning of Thursday 26 July 2001, a group of about ten people, suspected of being opposition supporters, beat up journalist Ken Ndanga, of the controversial pro-government weekly tabloid “The Sun”. Ndanga, whose newspaper has been waging an undeclared war against the newly-formed opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) pressure group of […]