JOHANNESBURG — Malawi, once considered a southern African success story, risks going down the same road as regional basket case Zimbabwe, said the leader of recent anti-government protests that left 19 dead.
Undule Mwakasungula had been in hiding since security forces launched a violent crackdown to quell two days of demonstrations that erupted July 20.
Re-emerging in South Africa for a forum on Malawi held Friday in Johannesburg, the chair of the Human Rights Consultative Council — an umbrella organisation of rights groups that organised the protests — said Malawi is undergoing twin economic and political crises that are reminiscent of Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe.
“We are almost Zimbabwe, both in the economy and in political governance,” Mwakasungula, who also heads the non-profit Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation in Lilongwe, said in an interview. — AFP
