The previous evening, Friday, we had learnt both from BBC World Service, but also from an American missionary who had been telephoned by the US Embassy in Lilongwe, that the Malawi Army had launched a number of attacks against Malawi Young Pioneer bases in Malawi after two soldiers had been killed by Young Pioneers in Mzuzu, in northern region.
The problem is that the Young Pioneers, originally formed to learn Agriculture and other useful skills, had evolved into a para-military wing of the ruling Malawi Congress Party, and rather like Mao's Red Guards, strutted about doing what they liked, answerable only to the President and his aides.
They had stockpiled powerful rifles and ammunition, and rumour says, more besides.
The Malawi Congress Party (MCP), having lost the referendum, agreed to the disarming of the Young Pioneers, but did nothing to implement it, so the army were waiting for an opportunity to implement government policy for them.
This the army started in Mzuzu, where they also attacked two of the President's residences, and then moved onto Lilongwe where they destroyed the Young Pioneer centre in the town together with the M.C.P. offices. They reported discovering a cache of 2,000 high precision rifles and many boxes of ammunition in the process.
Some of the people in Lilongwe, waiting for such an opportunity, began to loot shops owned by the President, and 38 people were killed in the unrest. The army then moved into Blantyre, attacking a Young Pioneer base there, one at Mapanga on the Limbe-Zomba road, and the Young Pioneer base at Zomba.
Last night they moved on to Bvumbwe where there is a large base, and Janet heard gunfire in the distance as she was reading in bed. We believe that there are other bases to follow.
Last Saturday morning at 7.00am, because we did not want to disappoint any pastors who had determined to come to the seminar, we set off tentatively for Zomba in Alan Turnbull's pickup. As we neared Mapanga, we were flagged down by the driver of a black BMW who told us he had heard gunshots at Mapanga. He said "Follow me if you want another route."
We turned the vehicle round and followed him back into Limbe, and then out again along a road I had never travelled on, that went out towards Zomba along the edge of Ndirande mountain. After a while it degenerated into an earth track that the BMW moved over with some speed, while we travelled along in the red dust-cloud trying not to fall too far behind.
We came out finally onto the Zomba road, and continued along at some speed to get to Zomba by 8.30am when the seminar was due to start. As we approached Zomba itself, we began to see armed soldiers along the road-side, and passed a couple of army trucks filled with soldiers. Soon we also passed a green, Young Pioneer saloon car with all its glass missing, impaled on a lamp standard by the side of the road.
Coming into the shopping centre, all the shops were closed and the windows barred, and local people sat in the doorways tensely looking about them. We drove down past the market, which was very quiet, finally arriving at the Zomba Community Hall at 8.35am. There were no pastors there waiting for us.
As we stood there, wondering what to do, a couple of men came up and introduced themselves. And then three more arrived who had come earlier and then gone away again. By 9.00am we had about 8 people, some of whom had walked many miles to get there, so we decided to explain the AABC scheme to them and to give them books if we did nothing else. By 9.30am more had arrived so Alan gave the first lesson. By 10.00am we were up to 16, so we gave lesson 2. But at 11am we decided to stop and go home, promising to return in a few weeks’ time for a complete re-run of the day's seminars.
As we left by the main road, Zomba seemed quiet, but that could have been deceptive with the army invisible, but still in position. We took the main road straight through Mapanga and all appeared quiet. It was a relief to get home without further incident.
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