Nine people died in Mzuzu, in the northern part of Malawi, on Wednesday, Ministry of Health spokesman Henry Chimbali said. Another died in Karonga district, also in the northern region.
It was not immediately clear how the 10 died, but officials were investigating, Chimbali said. Sources at Mzuzu Central Hospital who requested anonymity said the victims had been shot.
Two other people were fatally shot in Blantyre in the southern part of the nation, police spokesman Superintendent Davie Chingwalu said.
Amnesty International called for an immediate investigation into the Mzuzu deaths, asserting that security forces were responsible.
"At least 44 other people, including six children, are being treated for gunshot wounds at Mzuzu Central Hospital," the human rights organization said in a statement.
The protests began Wednesday as people demanded immediate action from the government on Malawi's economy and government issues.
The East African nation is facing persistent fuel shortages, foreign exchange reserve shortages and frequent power blackouts, among other problems. In addition, anti-government demonstrators have accused President Bingu wa Mutharika of dragging the nation back into the dictatorship era, citing the passage of bills they say impinge on citizen rights as well as the expulsion in April of British envoy Fergus Cochrane-Dyet.
The expulsion has cost Malawi dearly, as Britain has suspended direct budget support for the nation. According to the BBC, Cochrane-Dyet was told to leave Malawi in April after he was quoted in a leaked diplomatic cable as saying Mutharika was "becoming ever more autocratic and intolerant of criticism."
Source:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/07/21/malawi.protests/
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