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Off with their heads

Impatience with democracy, not fear of a coup, seems to lie behind the arrest of opposition leaders

President Bingu wa Mutharika boasts that he is a disciple of founding President Hastings Kamuzu Banda. Indeed, he has picked up the old autocrat’s authoritarianism without his tactical acuity. The latest crackdown will create, not resolve, problems for Mutharika’s government. As far as relations with outsiders go, he is lucky that his friend President Robert Mugabe is diverting international attention to Zimbabwe....

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Free article preview

Off with their heads

Impatience with democracy, not fear of a coup, seems to lie behind the arrest of opposition leaders

end of free article preview

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