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Calm returns to Malawi capital
25/05/2004 15:12 - (SA)
Blantyre - Calm returned to Blantyre on Tuesday following election riots in Malawi in which at least three people were shot dead by police, residents of the capital's townships said.
"We are back to work ... everything is back to normal and minibuses are running perfectly well," said Kumitomoni Chalemba, a bank clerk, who lived in Chilobwe township on the outskirts of the capital.
"Asian shops have opened today. Life is normal in Limbe," Thereza Chimpeni, a resident in the same area, said.
Chalemba said riot police were no longer patrolling Chilobwe's streets, where supporters of opposition leader Gwanda Chakuamba - who lost the presidential race to ruling party candidate Bingu wa Mutharika - went on a rampage on Sunday and Monday.
Mutharika, who vowed to eradicate hunger and corruption in the impoverished southern African country, was sworn in on Monday before hundreds of supporters and African leaders but the opposition boycotted the ceremony to protest the results of the elections.
Opposition supporters targeted filling stations, a post office and an office of Mutharika's ruling United Democratic Front (UDF).
Chakuamba claimed on Monday that 11 people were shot dead in three townships on Sunday after the police stopped his supporters from attending a rally during which he was to speak.
Bodies removed for burial
There was no independent confirmation of any of the deaths and police refused to confirm them, saying only that an investigation had begun.
A hospital official, who asked not to be named, said on Monday that two people were shot dead while an eyewitness said a third was killed in a township on the edge of Blantyre.
"The bodies of ... two people were removed from the morgue for burial," said the official, who added that a third person had been treated for a gunshot wound to the hand.
An eyewitness said he saw how police officers late on Sunday shot dead an opposition supporter in Ndirande township.
Police on Monday fanned out across Blantyre and most schools and businesses were closed as many residents feared more violence after riots on Sunday, sparked by the announcement by the electoral commission that Mutharika had won.
Police shut down a private radio station and arrested four journalists for interviewing an opposition spokesperson who threatened to call on the army to "take over" if Mutharika was declared president.
Chakuamba's seven-party Mgwirizano, or Unity Coalition has rejected the outcome of the polls.
The 69-year-old claimed victory before the results were announced, saying that his supporters, independent groups and church officials who monitored the voting considered him "the clear winner."
But charges of the three deaths added to Mutharika's worries - international observers, among them some from the European Union, have already said the vote was marred by "serious shortcomings."
Edited by Anthea Jonathan
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