{"id":402132,"date":"2011-04-27T14:53:21","date_gmt":"2011-04-27T14:53:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/04\/27\/uk-and-malawi-diplomats-expelled\/"},"modified":"2011-04-27T14:53:21","modified_gmt":"2011-04-27T14:53:21","slug":"uk-and-malawi-diplomats-expelled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/uk-and-malawi-diplomats-expelled\/","title":{"rendered":"UK and Malawi diplomats expelled"},"content":{"rendered":"

27 April 2011<\/span> Last updated at<\/span> 10:53 ET<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The UK has ordered Malawi’s high commissioner to leave the country over the “unacceptable” expulsion of Britain’s envoy to Lilongwe.<\/p>\n

Fergus Cochrane-Dyet was told to leave Malawi after he was quoted in a leaked cable as saying the president does not tolerate criticism.<\/p>\n

A British diplomat warned of “serious consequences”, according to an internal memo seen by the BBC.<\/p>\n

Some 40% of Malawi’s budget comes from abroad. The UK is the largest donor.<\/p>\n

There will now be no Malawian government representative at a party to celebrate the royal wedding on Friday.<\/p>\n

According to the diplomatic cable published by the local Weekend Nation newspaper last week<\/a>, Mr Cochrane-Dyet described Malawi’s President Bingu wa Mutharika as “becoming ever more autocratic and intolerant of criticism”.<\/p>\n

He said local civil society activists were afraid after a campaign of threatening phone calls.<\/p>\n

“I am sorry to pass on the news that the Malawi government have officially informed the Foreign and Commonwealth Office today [Tuesday] that Fergus is being declared persona non grata,” reads the memo signed by British High Commission Vice-Consul Lindsay McConaghy.<\/p>\n

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world, with an estimated 75% of the population living on less than $1 (60p) a day.<\/p>\n

Mr Cochrane-Dyet was quoted as saying that these would be the people who would suffer most if aid was cut as relations with donors worsen.<\/p>\n

Mr Mutharika was elected to office in 2004 and widely praised for his campaign against corruption.<\/p>\n

But the BBC’s Raphael Tenthani in Blantyre says that since his landslide re-election in 2009, his government has been accused of intimidating critics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

Continued here:
\nUK and Malawi diplomats expelled<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

27 April 2011 Last updated at 10:53 ET The UK has ordered Malawi’s high commissioner to leave the country over the “unacceptable” expulsion of Britain’s envoy to Lilongwe. Fergus Cochrane-Dyet was told to leave Malawi after he was quoted in a leaked cable as saying the president does not tolerate criticism. 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