Malawi sees influx of refugees from post-election violence in Mozambique
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Marauding gangs and political unrest since October’s polls have driven thousands of Mozambicans across the border into Malawi, despite its drought, food and fuel shortages. On a sunny Saturday afternoon, Manase Madia, 50, shows his Mozambican identity card. Once a sign of pride, he does not know what to believe in any more. Over the past few weeks he has seen houses being burned down, and shops and businesses looted, including his own. He now fears for his family, which has scattered in fear.
![[A man places a burning tire into a barricade in a street during a post-election protest.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/c63d4249d948f1e7dbb2e306c8281e7d83dd9126/0_0_4854_3236/master/4854.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
At a community ground where officials are processing new arrivals before being transferred to a shelter, Madia is one of about 13,000 people who have crossed into Malawi in the past two months, seeking refuge from post-election violence in Mozambique. The arrival of the refugees, albeit in smaller numbers, is reminiscent for people here of the civil war when almost a million Mozambicans sought refuge in the neighbouring southern African nation in the 1980s and early 1990s.
![[Manase Madia in Nsanje, Malawi, after his shop in Morrumbala, Mozambique was destroyed.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/48bd45d1086ee09947f40e9472eafef7b3e67c24/233_0_900_540/master/900.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Protests and violent uprisings have continued in Mozambique since the 11 October election, which saw Daniel Chapo, the candidate for the ruling Frelimo party, declared the winner over Venâncio Mondlane, of the opposition Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique.
![[A long line of people wait at a petrol station in the sun]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0295f8ec41b0612c70246db9e8fa856cd7019750/0_0_8160_5440/master/8160.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
In December, Mozambique’s constitutional council upheld the earlier decision, sparking fresh violence. While political members were targeted initially, the protests have metamorphosed into criminality and looting with businesspeople and those who are well off, like Madia, being targeted by marauding gangs.
![[Judith Fukizi, wearing a white bib with a red cross on it, sits opposite a woman in the shade under some trees]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/7693ebcd0cad2eacba78d58b7f4fe0a07baa50c4/0_0_1875_1125/master/1875.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
