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Malawians attack Tanzanians in Mzuzu

Armed police officers putting the situation under control
Armed police officers putting the situation under control

Hundreds of Malawians in Mzuzu City on Monday descended on Taifa Market in the city to evict Tanzanian nationals plying their trade at the market.

The Malawians, who were stopped by armed police officers, claimed they wanted to avenge the attacks on Malawians in Tanzania where people have lost property, jobs, businesses and one life.

One Malawian, 28-year-old Duncan Banda, died over weekend after he was beaten up in what are believed to be xenophobic attacks in Tanzania. The cause of these attacks, which started two weeks ago, is not yet known.

Business came to a standstill at Taifa Market in the afternoon as shop owners closed their premises, running for their lives. The closed shops included those belonging to Malawians and other foreign nationals.

The mob carried stones and other weapons vowing to deal with the Tanzanians.

The mob was at the scene for hours waiting for police to withdraw.

They also threatened to attack the Tanzanians in their homes at night as their counterparts were reportedly doing in Tanzania. The people also called on the police to allow them to descend on the market.

“Our relatives are being attacked in Tanzania and you are here protecting the Tanzanians. They have to leave. We will make sure we deal with them,”said one person in the mob.

Mzuzu Police spokesperson Maurice Chapola, who was on the scene, said the situation would have gone out of control if police had not rushed to the scene.

He said the crowd was irked by reports that hundreds of Malawians have been deported from Tanzania and a number of them were stranded in Mzuzu.

“The situation is under control. As you can see, we have heavy presence of heavily armed police. We will have to guard the premises throughout the night because any withdrawal will give people room to vandalise the market,”said Chapola.

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7 Comments

  1. Tanzania is to blame for all this. Untill now, Taifaz and Malawians have symbiotically co-existed but I dont see ths marriage surving anymore becoz of Tz’s selfishness. It seems Tz’s government is conveniently paying a deaf ear to the suffering of Mw’s in their country.

  2. There are certain circumstances that does not require to be handles with kid grooves’, Muvi oyanganira umalowa m’maso” so the saying goes.For how long will Malawians leave like this?it’s a question that requires a billion answers,are we not busy with things that will leave a poor Malawian suffering whilst those in authority are busy with unnecessary adventures discovering the World.We have the issue of the Lake,food shortage,security lapses,corruption etc.Oh Mother Malawi is not warm as it used to be.

  3. Two wrongs do NOT make a right. Malawi needs trade and needs to accept that other countries do as well. Travelling traders are not a threat but an opportunity.

  4. Thats how stupid our govt is, wasting money to protect Taifas while the Tanzanian govt can never waste a single penny to protect Malawians. This shows that our govt is being led by cowards who are afraid of the Tanzanian govt for some reason.
    Let me put the record straight here, Taifas are well aware of the fact that they have lost the case to rob Malawians of their lake and now they think that by triggering these attacts our weak govt in Malawi will back down on the lake issue.

  5. Where is the minister of home affairs? Only robing people when they want to apply for passports. Ask the police to do the same as their counterpart did. Taifas must produce papers if not depot them. We are sick and tired of these names saying, Jesus was born in Malawi that’s why all of us are descipples. JB and Kachali the ink is near, watch out.

  6. I’m reading all these comments, and this is honestly one of those times I am SERIOUSLY ashamed to be Malawian. How everyone is proudly taking on a xenophobic attitude, and we forget the fact that Tanzania is well within their rights, and that NOT ONLY MALAWIANS WERE DEPORTED. These 300 people are a) In the wrong and b) Only 300 out of 4000 deported. Are we hearing any reports of attacks on Tanzanians elsewhere? NO! We should be promoting peace, not ransacking these people because they happen to be from a country that enforced their law. Quit the xenophobic mentality, it’s taking us ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE, but further down the pit of ignorance. http://takondwasblog.wordpress.com//2013/09/25/proudly-kenyan-one-day-shamefully-malawian-the-next-xenophobia/

  7. Here is a special case at a special time where tit for tat can be a “necessary evil”. If tit for tit will not be allowed then let Govt issue a strong concern to the Tanzanian Government.If Tanzanians have killed one Malawian let Malawians kill ten Tanzanians then the Tanzanian Government will wake up.Kenya has lost 67 of their citizens by a small group from Somalia,what lessons do we learn from that fresh case study?

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