Malawi Human Rights Commission condemns attacks on activists

Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) has condemned the attacks on human rights activists and appealed to government to provide maximum protection to the rights defenders, particularly now that the country is witnessing incidences of political violence.

MHRC executive secretary David Nungu said this after Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) Central Region chairperson Reverend MacDonald Sembereka reported to have been attacked by suspected regime thugs who first burned tyres outside his house in Njewa, along Lilongwe-Mchinji Road before firing bullets at his house and throwing a petrol bomb inside his fence.

National Police spokesperson James Kadadzera confirmed receiving a report on Sembereka’s attack and said  the law enforcers “will do everything possible to investigate the issue.”

MHRC has since asked police to be protecting human rights activists just like the rest of the public.

”We demand an immediate stop to attacks on human rights defenders. We also demand serious efforts towards investigations into these issues of attacks of human rights defenders,” MHRC’s Nungu said.

Sembereka’s attack comes barely seven days after HRDC national chairperson Timothy Mtambo was also attacked.

HRDC has been leading anti- Jane Ansah demonstrations for the past three months to force the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson to resign for allegedly presiding over a flawed elections process.

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