VZCZCXRO6824
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHLG #0027 0121242
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 121242Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY LILONGWE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3699
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC

UNCLAS LILONGWE 000027 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR AF/S KAMANA MATHUR 
STATE FOR INR/AA RITA BYRNES 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM MI
SUBJECT: UDF LEADERS ARRESTED FOR DISSEMINATING BINGU RECORDING 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Police arrested two opposition leaders on January 
11 for distributing a recording of President Mutharika instructing 
an unnamed GOM official to "shake up" former President and political 
nemesis Bakili Muluzi.  The two officials, arrested on charges of 
sedition, played the recording after a recent opposition United 
Democratic Front (UDF) press conference.  More arrests, possibly 
including print and radio journalists who reported on the story, 
additional opposition leaders, and the former Anti-Corruption Bureau 
(ACB) Director (who is thought to have made the recording) are 
rumored to be on the way.  The two arrested UDF officials have been 
released on bail. End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) After the recording was played on local radio station 
Capital Radio on January 9, the Malawi Communication Regulatory 
Authority (MACRA) ordered the station to cease airing the tape or 
face unspecified consequences. Police then reportedly went to the 
station on January 11, confiscated the CD, and were looking for the 
radio show host who had played the recording. Capital Radio's 
attorney, former Attorney General Ralph Kasambara, obtained a court 
injunction blocking MACRA's order to stop the electronic media from 
playing the recording.  Police have since reportedly backed off 
plans to arrest journalists reporting on the story. 
 
¶3. (SBU) In the recording Mutharika lectures an unnamed official 
over Muluzi's faults, and then instructs, "let's meet (Muluzi) at 
the courts...I think he needs to be shaken up...he needs to be 
shaken up."  The GOM's Minister of Information claims the unnamed 
official, who she says recorded the conversation, is former ACB 
Director Gustave Kaliwo. Police are reportedly currently searching 
for Kaliwo to arrest him over the recording. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Embassy officials spoke to a high-ranking UDF leader who 
was present at the press conference where the recording was first 
played.  He confirmed that the two officials have been released on 
bail, and said that no other officials have been arrested. However, 
he also said that they expect UDF Spokesman Sam Mpasu, who was also 
at the press conference, and Kaliwo to be arrested today. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Comment: Mutharika's recent past seems intent on coming 
back to haunt him.  Not only has his former ACB Director apparently 
leaked tape-recorded conversations with the President, but his 
former Attorney General (Kasambara) is making sure the recordings 
stay in the public sphere.  Both officials were unceremoniously 
fired by Mutharika  last summer. 
 
¶6. (SBU) However, overlooked in all of the controversy regarding the 
recordings is the fact that the President doesn't actually say 
anything illegal or even all that improper.  He merely outlines his 
problems with Muluzi, and then intones that he's given up on the 
idea of compromising and is ready for the matter to be settled by 
the courts.  Much more worrying than the President's statements has 
been the government's knee-jerk, authoritarian reaction to the 
recording being made public.  Aside from the dangerous willingness 
to use law enforcement as a political tool, arresting UDF leaders 
will also surely inflame the opposition ahead of next month's 
sitting of Parliament.  The two UDF officials arrested seem likely 
to join a long list of people who have been detained on politically 
motivated charges over the past 18 months.  End Comment. 
 
 
EASTHAM