{"id":403064,"date":"2011-04-27T21:49:33","date_gmt":"2011-04-27T21:49:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/04\/27\/uk-and-malawi-in-tit-for-tat-diplomatic-expulsions\/"},"modified":"2011-04-27T21:49:33","modified_gmt":"2011-04-27T21:49:33","slug":"uk-and-malawi-in-tit-for-tat-diplomatic-expulsions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/uk-and-malawi-in-tit-for-tat-diplomatic-expulsions\/","title":{"rendered":"UK And Malawi In Tit-For-Tat Diplomatic Expulsions"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

An invitation to the Malawian government to a party at the high commission to celebrate the royal wedding on Friday has been withdrawn.<\/p>\n

According to the diplomatic cable published by the local Weekend Nation newspaper last week, 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 and said the government was restricting the freedom of the media and minorities.<\/p>\n

Under pressure from donors, Mr Mutharika last year pardoned two gay men who had been jailed because of their relationship, which is illegal in Malawi.
Poor to suffer?<\/p>\n

Following Mr Cochrane-Dyet’s expulsion, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said: “It is a worrying sign that the Malawian government is expending its energies in this way, rather than focusing on the real and substantial challenges facing it, including the need for improved governance.”<\/p>\n

He said acting High Commissioner of Malawi Flossie Gomile-Chidyaonga and her dependants must leave the UK at “the earliest opportunity” and hinted that the UK’s aid to its former colony could be cut.<\/p>\n

“I have also asked my officials, working closely with their colleagues elsewhere in government, to review rapidly the full range of our wider relationship with Malawi.”<\/p>\n

The EU office in Malawi has also condemned the decision to expel Mr Cochrane-Dyet.<\/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

In the leaked cable, 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 Malawi’s biggest city, Blantyre, says that since his landslide re-election in 2009, his government has been accused of intimidating critics.<\/p>\n

The UK recently expressed its disappointment with Malawi and reduced aid after the government purchased an extravagant presidential jet.<\/p>\n

It is also among the countries which condemned a new law which gives ministers power to ban publications deemed not to be in the public interest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

View original post here: <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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