It’s winter in Africa south of the Equator, but the temperature in Malawi, Southeast Africa, feels more like Spring, particularly that of the recent Arab pedigree. The Malawian air is rife with tension and anxiety over what is expected to be a clash between civil society and the Malawi government on Wednesday, July 20th. Civil Society activists have set that date as a day for the beginning of a series of mass demonstrations aimed at expressing their displeasure with the Malawian leadership.
Steve Sharra has a great backgorunder in Global Voices.
And you can follow the protests on Twitter, using this list curated by @dadakim
UPDATE – 21 july 2011
Yesterday’s protest ended up in violence as police tried to stop protesters in te cities of Lilongwe, Blantyre and Mzuzu. It has been reported that at least 11 people have been killed.
President Bingu W Mutharika’s address to the nation this morning has called for peace but neglected the reasons behind the protests (see speech and angry and disappointed comments here)
