Lilongwe, MALAWI
Malawi’s army is being hailed for
protecting protesters who have been calling for electoral justice, following
last year’s disputed presidential elections.
The military’s latest
intervention occurred after a fraud-marred election last year that returned
President Peter Mutharika to office.
The results were annulled by the
country’s top court and fresh polls are due in May.
Thousands of civilians last month
marched to the offices of the disgraced electoral commission where they chained
and padlocked its entrance — and handed the keys to an army officer.
“Recent images of Malawi army
soldiers protecting and leading opposition rally demonstrations are
counter-intuitive in the eyes of many Africans,” said New York-based Malawian
political analyst Nathan Chiume.
In Africa “we are used to seeing
national armies typically deployed on the streets to enforce government’s
orders against opposition members, not to guarantee the rights of citizens to
peacefully demonstrate and petition the government,” he said.
Violent clashes between police
and protesters last year led to the military getting involved.
Police indiscriminately fired
teargas and on numerous occasions the marchers fought back.
In one incident, in a restive
area near the capital Lilongwe, a policeman was stoned to death during the
violence.
On another occasion in Lilongwe,
protesters burnt a police armoured vehicle and torched several police houses.
The army then stepped in to
restore order and calm and protected demonstrators.
While deploying forces in August
last year, Malawi Defence Forces (MDF) commander Vincent Nundwe declared that
his “priority is to ensure that Malawi is sovereign as well as peaceful”.
The Malawian army has played a
crucial role during times of political and social turbulence.
It intervened in 2012 when then
president Bingu wa Mutharika collapsed and died, and the cabinet tried to stop
his constitutionally-mandated but estranged deputy Joyce Banda from assuming
power.
The army “allowed democracy and
constitutionality to prevail,” Banda told AFP.
She said the armed forces had
“always been instrumental in bringing about justice, particularly on behalf of
the poor and voiceless Malawians”.
The army “intervenes only to
remove the obstacles to proper functions of civilian political system,
including police,” said security expert, retired brigadier Marcel Chirwa.
“The MDF returned to
the barracks after it was satisfied that the adversary or the threat had been
well taken care of and could not harm national security,” he said.
Opposition politicians, whose
supporters led last year’s protests while the top court combed through evidence
of electoral fraud, have only praise for the military.
“The MDF is one
institution the people of Malawi have always been able to count on to uphold
the constitution in times of political crisis,” said main opposition Malawi
Congress Party leader Lazarus Chakwera.
Another opposition politician
Saulos Chilima added: “They stood up to their billing and reputation as one of
the most professional armies in Africa and the world.”
But for the president’s supporters,
the army was soft on protesters.
“People can protest and hold
demonstrations in a democracy but my only issue was that these weren’t peaceful
demonstrations,” said Joshua Khan, a Democratic Progressive Party activist.
“You don’t claim to fight for your
rights while infringing on other peoples rights,” he said.
“The army should have stopped the
demos. People even died! And MDF seemed to be okay with it”.
In a continent where armies often
prop up governments, crush dissent and interfere in mainstream politics, Malawi
in southern Africa has been an exception for decades.
From Sudan to Zimbabwe to Ivory Coast
and Guinea-Bissau, the military has had a long track record of being state
flunkeys, breaching the neutral role it is supposed to maintain.
But Malawi, which was ruled with an
iron fist by founding president Kamuzu Banda since independence from Britain in
1964, broke out of that mould in 1993, a year before Banda lost in the
country’s first multi-party polls.
Although allegiance to Banda was
enforced at every level, the army swiftly dismantled the dictator’s renegade
paramilitary wing, the Malawi Young Pioneers, and Banda lost power in 1994.
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