Malawi

However, increasing domestic unrest and pressure from Malawian churches and from the international community led to a referendum in which the Malawian people were asked to vote for a new form of government. Malawi's newly written constitution (1995) eliminated special powers previously reserved for the Malawi Congress Party.

Malawi saw its first transition between democratically elected presidents in May 2004, when the UDF’s presidential candidate Bingu wa Mutharika defeated MCP candidate John Tembo and Gwanda Chakuamba, who was backed by a grouping of opposition parties.

Politics

For almost thirty years, the government of Malawi and the Malawi Congress Party were one. When Malawi was declared a republic in 1966, the country was formally declared a one-party state.

Under the 1995 constitution, the president, who is both chief of state and head of the government, is chosen through universal direct suffrage every five years. Malawi has a vice president who is elected with the president.

Administrative divisions

Malawi is divided into three regions (the Northern, Central and Southern regions), which are further divided into twenty-seven districtss, which in turn are further divided into 137 traditional authorities and 68 sub-chief[dom?]s. The districts are:

Geography

Malawi is situated in southeastern Africa. In this deep trough lies Lake Malawi (also called Lake Nyasa), the third-largest lake in Africa, making about 20% of Malawi's area.

Malawi is one of Sub-Saharan Africa's most densely populated countries.

Malawi's climate is subtropical. From June through August, the lake areas and far south are comfortably warm, but the rest of Malawi can be chilly at night, with temperatures ranging from 5 °–14 °C (41°–57°F).

Lake Malawi is sometimes called the Calendar Lake as it is about 365 miles long and 52 miles wide.

Malawi has five national parks: Cape Maclear;

Economy

Malawi is a landlocked, densely populated country. Malawi's president recently urged farmers to consider growing other crops, such as cotton (), as an alternative to the country's principal crop, tobacco, as cigarette consumption in the West continues to decline.

Malawi's economic reliance on the export of agricultural commodities renders it particularly vulnerable to external shocks such as declining terms of trade and drought.

Malawi has undertaken economic structural adjustment programs supported by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and other donors since 1981.

Malawi has bilateral trade agreements with its two major trading partners, South Africa and Zimbabwe, both of which allow duty-free entry of Malawian products into their countries.

Humanitarian situation

Life expectancy in Malawi is now as low as 36.5 years; This drop is due to the population's impoverishment, which is constituted by many factors, including:

Health

Child mortality is 103/1,000.

According to Malawi government estimates, 14.2% of the population are HIV-positive, and 90,000 deaths in 2003 were due to AIDS.

Nutrition

Malawi's staple food is maize but like other countries in Southern Africa, Malawi has repeatedly been affected by famines since 2002, when food was scarce for almost one third of the population.

According to a FAO report from June 2005, 4.22 million inhabitants of Malawi, ¼ of the population, would not have enough food in 2005 to survive.

These repeated famines are caused by different factors including:

Some relief organisations, such as the Community of Sant'Egidio, Catholic Relief Services and other local and international organisations try to respond to the famine by distributing food parcels.

Foreign relations

Malawi has continued the pro-Western foreign policy established by former President Banda. Malawi's close relations with South Africa throughout the apartheid era strained its relations with other African nations. Following the collapse of apartheid in 1994, Malawi developed, and currently maintains, strong diplomatic relations with all African countries.

Between 1985 and 1995, Malawi accommodated more than a million refugees from Mozambique. Under this principle, refugees who requested asylum in another country first, or who had the opportunity to do so, would not subsequently be granted asylum in Malawi.

Malawi is a member of the following international organizations: UN and some of its specialized and related agencies (i.e.

Malawi is also a member of the International Criminal Court with a Bilateral Immunity Agreement of protection for the US-military (as covered under Article 98).

Demographics

Malawi derives its name from the Maravi, a Bantu people who came from the southern Congo basin circa 1400. By 1500, the two divisions of the tribe had established a kingdom stretching from north of the present-day city of Nkhotakota to the Zambezi River in the south, and from Lake Malawi in the east, to the Luangwa River in Zambia in the west.

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Sovereign states: Algeria • Angola • Benin • Botswana • Burkina Faso • Burundi • Cameroon • Cape Verde • Central African Republic • Chad • Democratic Republic of the Congo • Republic of the Congo • Comoros • Côte d'Ivoire • Djibouti • Egypt • Equatorial Guinea • Eritrea • Ethiopia • France • Gabon • The Gambia • Ghana • Guinea-Bissau • Guinea • Kenya • Lesotho • Liberia • Libya • Madagascar • Malawi • Mali • Mauritania • Mauritius • Morocco • Mozambique • Namibia • Niger • Nigeria • Portugal • Rwanda • Senegal • Seychelles • Sierra Leone • Somalia • South Africa • Spain • Sudan • Swaziland • São Tomé and Príncipe • Tanzania • Togo • Tunisia • Uganda • Yemen • Zambia • Zimbabwe

Dependencies: British Indian Ocean Territory (UK) • French Southern Territories (France)  • Mayotte (France)  • Réunion (France)  • Saint Helena (UK)

 Mostly in Europe. 

 Sudan

 The Gambia •  Guinea •  Guinea-Bissau •  Mali •  Mauritania •  Senegal •  Sierra Leone

Atlantic

 Benin •  Burkina Faso •  Cameroon •  Central African Republic •  Chad •  Côte d'Ivoire •  The Gambia •  Guinea •  Guinea-Bissau •  Liberia •  Mali •  Mauritania •  Niger •  Senegal •  Sierra Leone •  Sudan •  Togo

Ijoid:  Nigeria - Dogon:  Mali

Senufo:  Benin •  Côte d'Ivoire •  Mali

Gur:  Benin •  Burkina Faso •  Côte d'Ivoire •  Ghana •  Mali •  Nigeria •  Togo

Adamawa-Ubangi:  Cameroon •  Central African Republic •  Chad •  Nigeria

Kru:  Burkina Faso •  Côte d'Ivoire •  Liberia

Kwa:  Benin •  Côte d'Ivoire •  Ghana •  Nigeria •  Togo

Bantu

 Angola •  Botswana •  Burundi •  Cameroon •  Democratic Republic of the Congo •  Republic of the Congo •  Equatorial Guinea •  Gabon •  Kenya •  Nigeria •  Malawi •  Mozambique •  Namibia •  Rwanda •  Somalia •  South Africa •  Swaziland •  Tanzania •  Uganda •  Zambia •  Zimbabwe

Yoruba and Igbo:  Nigeria

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