Malawi President Chakwera, urged to engage ED on human rights abuses

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Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Malawi have urged the country’s President Lazarus Chakwera, to engage President Emmerson Mnangagwa on human rights abuses in the country.

In a letter dated 29 September 2020, and addressed to Malawi’s Foreign Affairs Minister Elsenwhower Mkaka, the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) and the Youth and Society (YAS) requested that Chakwera should raise the issue with Mnangagwa on his two-day visit to Harare which commences today

CHRR acting executive director Micheal Kaiyatsa and YAS executive director Charles Kajoloweka condemned arbitrary arrests, abductions, expulsions, disappearances and torture if journalists, political activists, government critics and human rights defenders by the Zimbabwean government. They wrote:

Time has come for Malawi and its leadership to take a just stand against continued impunity and draconian attempts at silencing the peoples of our neighbouring nations.
The ‘See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ pact has not helped make Zimbabwe a better place for all but made SADC member States, including Malawi, complicit to the horrifying human rights violations and a breakdown of rule of law currently getting worse.

When Malawi opposition supporters staged demonstrations across the country following a disputed election in 2019, the country’s courts ordered a rerun, while in 2018, soldiers shot dead six fleeing civilians and injured several others in Harare following election-related protests.

–Nyasha Times