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R 290742Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY LILONGWE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4048
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEHLMC/MCC WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC

UNCLAS LILONGWE 000254 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
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STATE FOR AF/S 
STATE FOR INR/AA RITA BYRNES 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM MI
SUBJECT: MALAWI ARMY STOPS OPPOSITION RALLY 
 
REF: LILONGWE 186 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  The Malawi Defense Force (MDF) stopped 
former President Bakili Muluzi, Chairman of the United 
Democratic Front (UDF) opposition party and 2009 presidential 
candidate, from holding a campaign rally on March 25.  Citing 
the incapacity of the police and concerns over the safety of 
the rally participants, the MDF deployed to stop Muluzi from 
traveling to the rally and dispersed the crowd that had 
gathered on-site.  This is the first time that the MDF has 
intervened in an internal political matter in Malawi's 
democratic history, and the action has been widely condemned 
by local civil society groups, opposition parties, and the 
media.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Muluzi, who has held a number of rallies at 
competing times with President Mutharika over the past month 
(reftel), had planned to hold the rally some 80 kilometers 
from where Mutharika was slated to address his own rally on 
the same day.  However, earlier in the week the police 
informed Muluzi that he could not hold his rally on March 25, 
as they did not have the capacity to provide security for 
both rallies on the same day.  The police expressed concern 
that supporters from the two rallies would clash, a situation 
they said they could not control.  Muluzi, however, planned 
to go ahead with his rally after obtaining a court injunction 
against the police ban. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Early on the morning of March 25, the Malawi Defense 
Force deployed near Muluzi's home in the southern capital of 
Blantyre and set up roadblocks along the route to t(e rally 
site.  The soldiers reportedly stopped cars$at roadblocks, 
and prevented those passengers wearing UDF paraphernalia from 
continuing on to the site.  The MDF then later deployed 
soldiers at the rally site itself, confronting UDF supporters 
and insisting that they return to their homes.  MDF spokesman 
Lt. Frank Kayanula told an Embassy official that the MDF had 
deployed "because the police were under a court injunction 
not to be at the scene...as there was no one to provide 
security at the scene, the military was under an obligation 
to disperse the rally." 
 
¶4. (SBU) The MDF deployment and the precedent it has set have 
been widely criticized throughout Malawi.  After the event 
UDF Spokesman Sam Mpasu said that though former President 
Kamuzu Banda was a dictator, and current Zimbabwe President 
Robert Mugabe a human rights violator, neither deployed 
"soldiers against his political opponents."  Professor 
Mustafa Hussein, Head of Political Studies at Malawi's 
largest University, told PolOff that the MDF's "intervention 
is not good, and our army should not be ijvolved in politics. 
 The police have been used for political purposes before, but 
never the MDF." 
 
¶5. (SBU) Comment: The police might have had some 
justification for asking Muluzi to reschedule his rally for 
fear of$violence among political activists, and his refusal 
to do so should be seen as a tactic to fupther goad 
Mutharika.  However, the deployment of the Malawi Defense 
Force is a shockingly hamhanded tactic by the government. 
The MDF has a sterling reputation of non-interference in 
domestic/civilian matters, and had previously refused to take 
part in political actions contrary to their mandate.  As the 
opposition noted, even under President Banda the military had 
remained above the fray of domestic politics.  This incident 
further illustrates Mutharika,s intense fear of Muluzi and 
the lengths to which the President is prepared to go to block 
his rival,s attempt to reclaim Malawi,s top job. End 
Comment. 
 
GILMOUR