Malawi
Malawi is situated in southeastern Africa. The Great Rift Valley
traverses the country from north to south. In this deep trough lies
Lake Malawi, the third-largest lake in Africa, comprising about 20%
of Malawi's area. The Shire River flows from the south end of the
lake and joins the Zambezi River 400 kilometers (250 mi.) farther
south in Mozambique. East and west of the Rift Valley, the land
forms high plateaus, generally between 900 and 1,200 meters
(3,000-4,000 ft.) above sea level. In the north, the Nyika Uplands
rise as high as 2,600 meters (8,500 ft.); south of the lake lie the
Shire Highlands, with an elevation of 600-1,600 meters (2,000-5,000
ft.), rising to Mts. Zomba and Mulanje, 2,130 and 3,048 meters
(7,000 and 10,000 ft.). In the extreme south, the elevation is only
60-90 meters (200-300 ft.) above sea level.
Malawi is one of Sub-Saharan Africa's most densely populated
countries. The population of Lilongwe--Malawi's capital since
1971--exceeds 1.8 million (preliminary results from the 2008 Malawi
population and housing census). All government ministries and the
parliament are located in Lilongwe. Blantyre remains Malawi's major
commercial center with a population near 1 million. Malawi's
President resides in Lilongwe. The Supreme Court is seated in
Blantyre.
Malawi's climate is generally subtropical. A rainy season runs from
November through April. There is little to no rainfall throughout
most of the country from May to October. It is hot and humid from
October to April along the lake and in the Lower Shire Valley.
Lilongwe is also hot and humid during these months, albeit far less
than in the south. The rest of the country is warm during those
months. From June through August, the lake areas and far south are
comfortably warm, but the rest of Malawi can be chilly at night,
with temperatures ranging from 5o-14oC (41o-57oF).
Malawi derives its name from the Maravi, a Bantu people who came
from the southern Congo about 600 years ago. On reaching the area
north of Lake Malawi, the Maravi divided. One branch, the ancestors
of the present-day Chewas, moved south to the west bank of the lake.
The other, the ancestors of the Nyanjas, moved down the east bank to
the southern part of the country.
By AD 1500, the two divisions of the tribe had established a kingdom
stretching from north of the present-day city of Nkhotakota to the
Zambezi River in the south, and from Lake Malawi in the east, to the
Luangwa River in Zambia in the west.
Migrations and tribal conflicts precluded the formation of a
cohesive Malawian society until the turn of the 20th century. In
more recent years, ethnic and tribal distinctions have diminished.
Regional distinctions and rivalries, however, persist. Despite some
clear differences, no significant friction currently exists between
tribal groups, and the concept of a Malawian nationality has begun
to take hold. Predominately a rural people, Malawians are generally
conservative and traditionally nonviolent.
The Chewas constitute 90% of the population of the central region;
the Nyanja tribe predominates in the south and the Tumbuka in the
north. In addition, significant numbers of the Tongas live in the
north; Ngonis--an offshoot of the Zulus who came from South Africa
in the early 1800s--live in the lower northern and lower central
regions; and the Yao, who are mostly Muslim, live along the
southeastern border with Mozambique. |
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Hominid remains and stone implements have been identified in Malawi
dating back more than 1 million years, and early humans inhabited
the vicinity of Lake Malawi 50,000 to 60,000 years ago. Human
remains at a site dated about 8000 BC show physical characteristics
similar to peoples living today in the Horn of Africa. At another
site, dated 1500 BC, the remains possess features resembling Negro
and Bushman people.
Although the Portuguese reached the area in the 16th century, the
first significant Western contact was the arrival of David
Livingstone along the shore of Lake Malawi in 1859. Subsequently,
Scottish Presbyterian churches established missions in Malawi. One
of their objectives was to end the slave trade to the Persian Gulf
that continued to the end of the 19th century. In 1878, a number of
traders, mostly from Glasgow, formed the African Lakes Company to
supply goods and services to the missionaries. Other missionaries,
traders, hunters, and planters soon followed.
In 1883, a consul of the British Government was accredited to the
"Kings and Chiefs of Central Africa," and in 1891, the British
established the Nyasaland Protectorate (Nyasa is the Yao word for
"lake"). Although the British remained in control during the first
half of the 1900s, this period was marked by a number of
unsuccessful Malawian attempts to obtain independence. A growing
European and U.S.-educated African elite became increasingly vocal
and politically active--first through associations, and after 1944,
through the Nyasaland African Congress (NAC).
During the 1950s, pressure for independence increased when Nyasaland
was joined with Northern and Southern Rhodesia in 1953 to form the
Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. In July 1958, Dr. Hastings
Kamuzu Banda returned to the country after a long absence in the
United States (where he had obtained his medical degree at Meharry
Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee in 1937), the United Kingdom
(where he practiced medicine), and Ghana. He assumed leadership of
the NAC, which later became the Malawi Congress Party (MCP). In
1959, Banda was sent to Gwelo Prison for his political activities
but was released in 1960 to participate in a constitutional
conference in London.
On April 15, 1961, the MCP won an overwhelming victory in elections
for a new Legislative Council. It also gained an important role in
the new Executive Council and ruled Nyasaland in all but name a year
later. In a second constitutional conference in London in November
1962, the British Government agreed to give Nyasaland self-governing
status the following year.
Dr. Banda became Prime Minister on February 1, 1963, although the
British still controlled Malawi's financial, security, and judicial
systems. A new constitution took effect in May 1963, providing for
virtually complete internal self-government. The Federation of
Rhodesia and Nyasaland was dissolved on December 31, 1963, and
Malawi became a fully independent member of the Commonwealth
(formerly the British Commonwealth) on July 6, 1964. Two years
later, Malawi adopted a new constitution and became a one-party
state with Dr. Banda as its first President.
In 1970 Dr. Banda was declared President for life of the MCP, and in
1971 Banda consolidated his power and was named President for life
of Malawi itself. The paramilitary wing of the Malawi Congress
Party, the Young Pioneers, helped keep Malawi under authoritarian
control until the 1990s. Increasing domestic unrest and pressure
from Malawian churches and from the international community led to a
referendum in which the Malawian people were asked to vote for
either a multi-party democracy or the continuation of a one-party
state. On June 14, 1993, the people of Malawi voted overwhelmingly
in favor of multi-party democracy. Free and fair national elections
were held on May 17, 1994.
Bakili Muluzi, leader of the United Democratic Front (UDF), was
elected President in 1994. The UDF won 82 of the 177 seats in the
National Assembly and formed a coalition government with the
Alliance for Democracy (AFORD). That coalition disbanded in June
1996, but some of its members remained in the government. The
President was referred to as Dr. Muluzi, having received an honorary
degree at Lincoln University in Missouri in 1995. Malawi's newly
written constitution (1995) eliminated special powers previously
reserved for the Malawi Congress Party. Accelerated economic
liberalization and structural reform accompanied the political
transition.
On June 15, 1999, Malawi held its second democratic elections. Dr.
Bakili Muluzi was re-elected to serve a second 5-year term as
President, despite an MCP-AFORD alliance that ran a joint slate
against the UDF.
Malawi saw its first transition between democratically elected
presidents in May 2004, when the UDF's presidential candidate Bingu
wa Mutharika defeated MCP candidate John Tembo and Gwanda Chakuamba,
who was backed by a grouping of opposition parties. European Union
and Commonwealth observers said although voting passed peacefully,
they were concerned about "serious inadequacies" in the poll. The
UDF also did not win a majority of seats in parliament, as it had
done in 1994 and 1999 elections. Through the politicking of party
chairperson and former President Bakili Muluzi, the party
successfully secured a majority by forming a "government of national
unity" with several opposition parties. President Bingu wa Mutharika
left the UDF party on February 5, 2005, citing differences with the
UDF, particularly over his anti-corruption campaign. He formed the
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) shortly thereafter, attracting a
number of UDF and independent members of parliament (MPs) to his new
party. The DPP, however, has also failed to acquire enough support
for a majority in parliament, and continues to face stiff opposition
from both the UDF and the MCP. Meanwhile, many politicians are
already looking ahead to the next general elections in 2009, with
Muluzi, Tembo, and Mutharika all expected to campaign for president.
On September 14, 2007, after passing the budget, the President
dismissed the National Assembly before the speaker of parliament
could act on Section 65 of the constitution. Section 65, a major
point of contention between the DPP and opposition parties, allows
the speaker to declare vacant the seats of any MPs who change
parties after being elected. After a protracted delay, on August 29,
2008 the National Assembly approved the national budget for
2008/2009, relieving some of the pressure on the government in the
short term. The parties further agreed to implement Section 65 in
the coming months. |
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