Tag: Malawi

Malawi VP, nine others, killed in plane crash

LILONGWE, Malawi, June 11, 2024 (AFP) – Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Chilima was killed in a plane crash, the nation’s president said on Tuesday, after searchers located the wreckage of the aircraft in a mist-shrouded forest. The military plane carrying Chilima, 51, and nine others disappeared on Monday, after it failed to land in the northern city of Mzuzu due to bad weather and was told to return to the capital, Lilongwe. Photographs shared with […]

Cyclone Freddy leaves half a million displaced in Malawi: UN

The deadly cyclone that lashed Malawi last week has displaced more than half a million people in the country, the UN said Tuesday as it warned of soaring humanitarian needs. Cyclone Freddy dumped six months’ worth of rainfall on southern Malawi in six days, with floods and mudslides sweeping away homes, roads and bridges in a record-breaking deluge. The cyclone has left almost 500 people dead in the south of the country, while another 150 […]

Cyclone Freddy death toll in Malawi hits 326

by Jack McBRAMS Agence France-Presse BLANTYRE, Malawi (AFP) — The death toll in Malawi from Cyclone Freddy has risen to 326, the country’s president said Thursday, bringing the total number of victims across southern Africa to more than 400 since February. Rescuers were unearthing more bodies as the chances of finding survivors faded after the cyclone followed a highly unusual course by returning to lash southern Africa’s mainland a second time. “As of yesterday, the […]

What makes Cyclone Freddy an exceptional storm

Paris, France | AFP | by Julien MIVIELLE Cyclone Freddy, which has twice smashed into the African coast after traversing the Indian Ocean, may be enshrined in the history books as the longest ever documented, meteorologists say. A factfile: – Deadly track – The storm began to brew in early February in the southeastern Indian Ocean off northern Australia, whose weather service gave it the designation of Freddy on February 6. Freddy then crossed the […]

Rescuers scramble to find survivors in cyclone-hit Malawi

Blantyre, Malawi | AFP | Wednesday 3/15/2023 by Jack McBrams Rescuers scrambled on Wednesday to reach survivors in Malawi’s battered city of Blantyre, after Cyclone Freddy struck southern Africa for a second time, triggering floods and landslides that have killed more than 200 people. Weather conditions were expected to improve as the storm dissipated over land after days of torrential rains, but localised thunderstorms would persist, and flood levels remained high in some areas, hampering […]

Cyclone Freddy returns killing 70 in Malawi, Mozambique

by Jack McBRAMS Cyclone Freddy, packing powerful winds and torrential rain, killed at least 70 people in Malawi and Mozambique on its return to southern Africa’s mainland, authorities said Monday. More than 60 bodies were found during the day in southern Malawi where heavy downpours triggered flooding, according to the Red Cross. “Sixty-six people have died in Malawi, 93 injured and 16 people are missing due to Tropical Cyclone Freddy,” tweeted the humanitarian organisation, which […]

Catholic priest among 12 convicted over Malawi albino murder

  LILONGWE, Malawi (AFP) — A Malawi Catholic priest, a policeman and hospital worker are among a dozen convicted over the 2018 gruesome murder of a man with albinism, a court official said Friday. Five out of the 12 were found guilty of killing MacDonald Masambuka, 22, at the height of a crime spree that saw over 40 murders and 145 assaults on people with the condition in the country. The priest, Masambuka’s brother, a […]

US donates more than 500 million Covid vaccines to other countries

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States (AFP) – The United States has given more than 500 million coronavirus vaccines to other countries since the jabs were developed, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday in a statement obtained by AFP. “The United States has now shared over 500 million safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine doses, free of cost, to more than 110 countries and economies around the world — for the sole purpose of saving lives,” Blinken said. Washington aims […]

Deadly storm Ana strands tens of thousands in southern Africa

by Jack McBrams with Aunicio DA SILVA in Nampula Agence France-Presse LILONGWE, Malawi (AFP) – Torrential rains from deadly Tropical Storm Ana subsided on Friday leaving tens of thousands of people across three countries in southern Africa cut off by flood damage, without power and living in shelters. The death toll stood at 86 across Madagascar, Mozambique and Malawi, as rescue crews battled on to access regions where roads and bridges had washed away. In […]

Malawi’s new president inaugurated, calls for national sacrifice

LILONGWE, Malawi (AFP) — Malawi’s new president Lazarus Chakwera called for national sacrifice to transform his country as he was inaugurated on Monday, completing a remarkable turnaround after losing last year’s election. That vote was annulled by Malawi’s top court over “widespread and systematic” irregularities and a re-run election was held on June 23. Chakwera, 65, comfortably beat Peter Mutharika with 58.5 per cent of the vote, marking the first time in African history that […]

Malawi braces for historic presidential election re-run

by Jack McBRAMS LILONGWE, Malawi (AFP) — Malawi goes to the polls on Tuesday in a historic presidential re-run after a court overturned last year’s elections and ordered a fresh vote. Citing “grave” and “widespread” rigging, the country’s constitutional court ruled in February that President Peter Mutharika had not been duly elected, and mandated a new poll within 150 days. The landmark verdict, which reverberated across African politics, made Malawi the second country south of […]

Malawi announces 21-day COVID-19 lockdown

BLANTYRE, Malawi (AFP) — Malawi’s President Peter Mutharika on Tuesday announced that the landlocked country will implement a 21-day lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus that has claimed two lives. In a televised national address, Mutharika said the lockdown will be effective from midnight on Saturday and will end on May 9. “This lockdown may be extended beyond 9th May as circumstances warrant, he cautioned. “I would like to urge you to fully […]