Malawi leader ditches perks
BLANTYRE – Malawi’s new president has announced that the presidential jet and fleet of 60 Mercedes limousines would be sold, in a move applauded as an example to other leaders.
Joyce Banda said she was happy to ‘offload’ the presidential perks, adding: ‘I can well use private airlines. I am used to hitchhiking.’Banda, formerly the vice-president, took over from Bingu wa Mutharika in April when he suffered a heart attack. Since then, she has sacked former members of the ‘old guard’ in the cabinet and security services, brought back Malawi’s old flag and pledged to lift the country’s ban on homosexuality.Most recently, she followed long-standing IMF advice to devalue Malawi’s currency by one third.The move caused panic buying and a sharp rise in the prices of basic foods and fuel.But her decisions have seen donors including the EU, Britain, Germany, Norway and the World Bank re-establish warm relations with Malawi.Winnie falls and breaks her wristJOHANNESBURG – Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, 75, former wife of Nelson Mandela, has been hospitalised and is due to undergo surgery for a broken wrist, her daughter said on Saturday.’Mrs Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is in hospital with a broken right wrist following a fall on Thursday,’ said Zindzi Mandela in a statement issued via her former husband’s foundation.She will be operated on today, it said, without specifying the hospital where she had been admitted.Senegal to try Chad’s HabreDAKAR – Senegal has begun preparations to try Chad’s former dictator Hissene Habre for war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture after being accused of dragging its feet for years.The justice ministry said a working group had met on Friday to debate the practical aspects of staging the trial in line with Senegal’s international commitments and with the support of the African Union.Chad’s former president, now aged 69, fled to Senegal after he was overthrown in 1990. A 1992 truth commission report in Chad said he had presided over up to 40 000 political and ethnic-related killings.
