Thousands mourn Chilima at Blantyre funeral

Tens of thousands of Malawians on Sunday attended a funeral service at the national stadium to pay tribute to Vice-President Saulos Chilima who was killed last week. Chilima and nine other people were killed when the military plane on which they were travelling crashed. The aircraft which left Lilongwe was unable to land at Mzuzu airport due to poor visibility. President Lazarus Chakwera promised a full investigation into the cause of the tragedy and said that he had asked foreign governments to help. BBC News reports that Chakwera had previously said the military aircraft had crashed because of poor visibility caused by bad weather but Chilima's UTM party has called for a thorough and independent investigation. Chakwera and other government officials were booed by some members of the crowd at the Bingu National Stadium. The 41 000-capacity stadium was full, with more people outside. Calm was only restored after the intervention of Catholic priests. Chilima was arrested in 2022 over graft allegations. However, a court dropped the charges against him last month after the DPP filed a notice for the case to be discontinued.

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