Banda backs Chakwera, withdraws from Malawi presidential race

Banda backs Chakwera, withdraws from Malawi presidential race

Former president of Malawi Joyce Banda has withdrawn as a People’s Party presidential candidate ahead of the May 2019 elections, and announced she is endorsing the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) candidate in the race. Banda’s decision to back Lazarus Chakwera, above, was made public Thursday in a joint statement of…

Beira bears the brunt as Cyclone Idai makes landfall

The city of Beira in Mozambique was in total darkness as Cyclone Idai arrived Thursday, cutting off the power to a half million people who were waiting for daylight to assess the destruction from the storm. Cyclone Idai made landfall with the city squarely in its sights, arriving late Thursday…

Flooded Mozambique coast braces for Cyclone Idai landfall

The nation of Mozambique is bracing for the impending arrival of Cyclone Idai, a powerful storm expected to make landfall late Thursday, in areas just north of the coastal city of Beira already flooded from recent heavy rains. The Instituto Nacional de Meteorología has issued a high-level red alert for…

New concern for albino attacks as Malawi elections loom

A group of United Nations experts called on the Malawi government on Friday to act quickly to prevent people with albinism from attacks and killings linked to cultural superstitions, especially as the May elections approach. Malawi has seen 150 such cases since 2014, with an uptick in recent weeks that…

Research: What Africans in five nations think about climate change

From flooding to drought, countries across the African continent experience climate change in environmentally and economically diverse settings – but what do its citizens really think about it? The Ghana-based Afrobarometer research organization checked in with five different countries for their 2018 reports, from West Africa to the south, and…

What’s caused a river to turn red in Malawi?

What’s caused a river to turn red in Malawi? There’s been no official word from government sources since women discovered the Linthipe River at Dedza, near the border with Mozambique and along the M1 route, had turned blood-red when they arrived about 2 p.m. on Wednesday. Photos of the phenomenon were…

Melania Trump visits Malawi on Africa goodwill tour

First Lady Melania Trump of the United States continued a four-nation tour of Africa with a visit to Malawi on Thursday, where she was greeted by Gertrude Mutharika, wife of Malawi’s President Peter Mutharika, at the airport in Lilongwe. Trump, married to controversial U.S. President Donald Trump, is making her…

Amnesty calls on Malawi to ensure justice for albino victims

Amnesty International has called on authorities in Malawi to ensure justice for victims targeted because they are albinos, a practice that has claimed the lives of 21 people since 2014 and amounts to nearly 150 total cases. The attacks against people with albinism are fueled by stereotypical beliefs that their…

Malawi’s Banda considers 2019 presidential run

Former president of Malawi Joyce Banda plans another run at the office in the 2019 elections, if she’s elected as chairwoman of her opposition People’s Party (PP). Banda made the announcement during a political rally Sunday in Blantyre, one of more than a dozen she has held since returning to…