Mozambican diplomat to mediate Malawi crisis

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Mozambican diplomat Joao Honwana as mediator for the political crisis in neighboring Malawi, state radio reported on Thursday night. It said Honwana is to face one of the complicated crises in the Southern African nations, in which latest demonstrations and disturbances have left Malawi in a climate of tension between the government of Bingu Wa Mutharika and the opposition. The two sides clashed in the country's commercial city of Blantyre and other parts of the nation, causing widespread concern. The opposition is called for Wa Mutharika to step down, accusing him of plunging the country into poverty and orchestrating food and fuel crisis. Honwana, who is head of the UN political affairs department, had been the UN envoy to Guinea-Bissau to mediate the country's political crisis between the government of former president Joao Bernardo Vieira and the military. The first face to face talks between Wa Mutharika's government and the opposition took place on Tuesday in the Malawian capital Lilongwe under the UN mediation.