BLANTYRE, Malawi: Ethel Mutharika, wife of Malawi's President Bingu wa Mutharika, died Monday after battling an unspecified illness, the presidency said.
A brief statement released by the chief secretary of the president, Bright Msaka, confirmed that Ethel Mutharika had died in the capital, Lilongwe.
"The president is deeply saddened by the death of his longtime wife who has been beside him since they met in the early '60s. The State House is shocked by the death of our mother whose guidance we deeply relied upon," the statement said.
The statement did not give the cause of death or her age, but the reserved woman who seldom made public appearances was said to be in her 60s and suffering from an unspecified cancer.
Government officials would not reveal the nature of the first lady's illness earlier this year but said she had traveled to France and South Africa for specialist medical treatment and had undergone a minor surgical operation.
Funeral details were still to be announced, but the Ministry of Information said a month of mourning would be observed during which flags at government buildings would be flown at half staff.
The speaker of parliament, Louis Chimango, interrupted the house's budget session to announce the news.
"On behalf of parliament, I express my deep condolences to the president and the first family in this trying moment," he said.
Zimbabwean-born Ethel Mutharika was the head of a foundation that bore her name and helped poor women in income-generating activities.
She is survived by her husband and four children.
Monday, 28 May 2007
Women's rights, more health staff needed to fight AIDS in Africa: reports
Discrimination against women and a lack of health-care workers mean people infected with HIV/AIDS are dying unnecessarily in southern Africa, according to two new reports.
On Friday, Physicians for Human Rights released a study of 2,000 women in Botswana and Swaziland. The report concludes four factors contribute to women's vulnerability to HIV:
* Women's lack of control over sexual decision making, such as the decision to use a condom, and multiple partners by both men and women.
* Prevalence of HIV-related stigma and discrimination, which hinders testing and disclosing of an HIV positive status.
* Gender-discriminatory beliefs linked to sexual risk taking.
* Failure of traditional and government leaders to promote the equality, autonomy, and economic independence of women.
"If we are to reduce the continuing, extraordinary HIV prevalence in Botswana and Swaziland, particularly among women, the countries' leaders need to enforce women's legal rights," Karen Leiter, the study's lead investigator, said in a statement.
The field study surveyed beliefs and how they are linked to sexual behaviour. In Botswana, for example, participants who had discriminatory beliefs about the role of women had nearly three times higher odds of reporting unprotected sex with a non-primary partner in the previous year, the report's authors found.
The group recommended both African governments end discrimination against women in marriage, inheritance, property and employment laws, as well as strengthen legislation to end impunity for gender-based violence and ensure women are protected from violence in all forms, including marital rape.
Too few doctors, nurses to give drugs
On Thursday, the international aid group Médecins Sans Frontières released a report saying people infected with HIV/AIDS in southern Africa have drugs to treat their conditions, but there are too few doctors and nurses to administer the medication.
As the availability of drugs and clinics improves, Western donors should focus on improving wages and working conditions for health-care workers so they can stay in their own countries rather than emigrate, the report recommended.
The report on Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa said more than one million people need life-saving antiretroviral treatment but do not have access to it.
In Malawi, where the rate of HIV infection may be as high as 30 per cent, there are two doctors for every 100,000 people. The World Health Organization's minimum standard is 20 doctors for every 100,000 patients.
'It feels like we are losing the battle'
"Clinics are absolutely saturated, waiting lists are growing, and it feels like we are losing the battle," said Dr. Eric Goemaere, head of MSF's program in Khayelitsha, a Cape Town township in South Africa.
Countries are trying to cope by allowing nurses to do work normally done by doctors and community workers to do the work of nurses, but the need for more skilled staff remains, the group said.
Nurses have left for better-paying jobs in the private sector or abroad, said Mpumelelo Mantangana, a nurse at the clinic in Khayelitsha, whose workload has increased.
"I work purely because of passion for what we are doing. People come in and they are very sick and we see them get better. That is the only thing which gives us strength," she told Associated Press at the clinic, where long lines of people waited patiently on wooden benches.
On Friday, Physicians for Human Rights released a study of 2,000 women in Botswana and Swaziland. The report concludes four factors contribute to women's vulnerability to HIV:
* Women's lack of control over sexual decision making, such as the decision to use a condom, and multiple partners by both men and women.
* Prevalence of HIV-related stigma and discrimination, which hinders testing and disclosing of an HIV positive status.
* Gender-discriminatory beliefs linked to sexual risk taking.
* Failure of traditional and government leaders to promote the equality, autonomy, and economic independence of women.
"If we are to reduce the continuing, extraordinary HIV prevalence in Botswana and Swaziland, particularly among women, the countries' leaders need to enforce women's legal rights," Karen Leiter, the study's lead investigator, said in a statement.
The field study surveyed beliefs and how they are linked to sexual behaviour. In Botswana, for example, participants who had discriminatory beliefs about the role of women had nearly three times higher odds of reporting unprotected sex with a non-primary partner in the previous year, the report's authors found.
The group recommended both African governments end discrimination against women in marriage, inheritance, property and employment laws, as well as strengthen legislation to end impunity for gender-based violence and ensure women are protected from violence in all forms, including marital rape.
Too few doctors, nurses to give drugs
On Thursday, the international aid group Médecins Sans Frontières released a report saying people infected with HIV/AIDS in southern Africa have drugs to treat their conditions, but there are too few doctors and nurses to administer the medication.
As the availability of drugs and clinics improves, Western donors should focus on improving wages and working conditions for health-care workers so they can stay in their own countries rather than emigrate, the report recommended.
The report on Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa said more than one million people need life-saving antiretroviral treatment but do not have access to it.
In Malawi, where the rate of HIV infection may be as high as 30 per cent, there are two doctors for every 100,000 people. The World Health Organization's minimum standard is 20 doctors for every 100,000 patients.
'It feels like we are losing the battle'
"Clinics are absolutely saturated, waiting lists are growing, and it feels like we are losing the battle," said Dr. Eric Goemaere, head of MSF's program in Khayelitsha, a Cape Town township in South Africa.
Countries are trying to cope by allowing nurses to do work normally done by doctors and community workers to do the work of nurses, but the need for more skilled staff remains, the group said.
Nurses have left for better-paying jobs in the private sector or abroad, said Mpumelelo Mantangana, a nurse at the clinic in Khayelitsha, whose workload has increased.
"I work purely because of passion for what we are doing. People come in and they are very sick and we see them get better. That is the only thing which gives us strength," she told Associated Press at the clinic, where long lines of people waited patiently on wooden benches.
The plight of Malawi's child brides
Innat Edson didn't think it would end this way. Last year, she was making wedding plans. Now, at just 15, she is back at her mother's cramped, dingy house, nursing a fussing baby her former fiancé refuses to acknowledge is his.
Here, and in isolated villages and crumbling cities across the most destitute continent, girls younger than 14 are finding boyfriends and getting married in a bid to escape the empty bellies, numbing work and overwhelming tedium of poverty.
Encouraged by their parents, many marry much older men who they hope can give them a better life. Often, they are disappointed.
"Poverty is the cancer in our society," says Joyce Banda, Malawi's Minister of Gender, Child Welfare and Community Services. "More girls are marrying young -- not out of choice, but because they have no choice."
No figures are available because such marriages usually happen in secret. Banda and some aid groups, though, assert they are becoming more common, citing anecdotal evidence.
The legal age for marriage is 16 in Malawi, but girls as young as 14 can marry with their parents' consent. The government is proposing increasing this minimum to 18, but has had little luck enforcing its existing laws. Some elders see nothing wrong with allowing an 11-year-old to wed a man in his 30s.
"When they are exposed, we find that the young girls are so brainwashed they don't see anything wrong, and their parents are willing participants," Banda says.
Early marriage takes girls out of school and forces them into motherhood before they are biologically ready, contributing to some of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. About 1 800 mothers died for every 100 000 deliveries in 2003, the last year for which figures are available. The practice can also expose girls to HIV/Aids before they are equipped to protect themselves.
The deadly pandemic has left thousands of Malawian children to fend for themselves in a country gripped by perpetual food shortages.
Innat's mother has been in and out of hospital for three years with an illness the family does not name. Her father drinks heavily and provides little for his six children. Innat dropped out of school in 7th grade to work as a maid in Blantyre -- a three-hour walk down a winding, rutted road. But the job didn't pay much, and she continued to struggle.
"I had no money to buy soap or lotion for my body, so I thought the only way was to find a boyfriend to take care of my needs," explains the sad, wide-eyed girl.
Her 13-year-old sister, Isme, escaped home by marrying a painter. So when a young man from their village proposed, Innat thought her problems were solved. When she fell pregnant, he deserted her.
Soon after, a trader came looking to buy charcoal. He too proposed, and she agreed. "I was just thinking about my baby," she says.
Eventually, however, the man returned to the city.
"He said he would come back for me," she says, her eyes welling up, "but he never did." Some 30 to 40 girls drop out every year from the local primary school, where English lessons are taught on a blackboard nailed to a tree. Some leave to help at home, but most get married, says deputy headmaster James Kampira.
Primary school is free, but high school costs around 3 500 kwacha (about $27) a term -- more than many families earn a month.
If there is a choice, they usually give the extra schooling to sons. Just 15% of Malawian girls finish high school, compared with 26% of boys, according to government figures.
Some girls are pressed into marriage for the sake of a dowry, or because their parents have too many mouths to feed. But many enter willingly into unions that give them a kind of status.
Elube Matebule traded a cracked mud-and-thatch home for a brick house with a tin roof when she married her 22-year-old boyfriend, Edwin, last August.
"Life was difficult at home. There wasn't enough food, there weren't enough clothes, there wasn't enough money. But in marriage, I have those things," says Elube, a shy, giggly girl in a torn, white blouse, who says she is 18, but looks barely 14.
Marriage wasn't quite the escape she'd hoped for. Every day the girl who once dreamed of being a nurse is up at dawn to work in her new family's maize field. In the afternoon, she cooks for her husband, his parents and two brothers. Only then can she relax before the work starts again.
"I am very disappointed," she says, sitting on a step, twisting a blade of grass.
The average age of sexual debut is just 12, according to government research. In a few traditional communities, girls are forced to have sex with older men as part of rites initiating them into adulthood. But most have their first experience with a friend or relative.
Girls who have lost one or both parents to HIV/Aids are especially vulnerable to exploitation. In cities like Blantyre, it is not unusual for them to have several "boyfriends" who support them, according to the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) in Malawi. This in turn exposes them to the risk of infection with HIV, the virus that causes Aids.
Some older men will marry young girls after their wives die of HIV/Aids because they believe sex with a virgin will "cleanse" them, says Banda. It is also traditional in some cultures for a man to marry his wife's younger sister if she dies.
The government and Unicef campaign against such practices and hope raising the legal age for marriage will alert people to the dangers.
Others, however, worry the proposed law will leave pregnant teens without even the option of marriage.
Innat has no idea how to fend for two-month-old Crispin. "I wish I had money so I could raise goats to put him through school," she says wistfully. "I see no future for any of us." -- Sapa-AFP
Here, and in isolated villages and crumbling cities across the most destitute continent, girls younger than 14 are finding boyfriends and getting married in a bid to escape the empty bellies, numbing work and overwhelming tedium of poverty.
Encouraged by their parents, many marry much older men who they hope can give them a better life. Often, they are disappointed.
"Poverty is the cancer in our society," says Joyce Banda, Malawi's Minister of Gender, Child Welfare and Community Services. "More girls are marrying young -- not out of choice, but because they have no choice."
No figures are available because such marriages usually happen in secret. Banda and some aid groups, though, assert they are becoming more common, citing anecdotal evidence.
The legal age for marriage is 16 in Malawi, but girls as young as 14 can marry with their parents' consent. The government is proposing increasing this minimum to 18, but has had little luck enforcing its existing laws. Some elders see nothing wrong with allowing an 11-year-old to wed a man in his 30s.
"When they are exposed, we find that the young girls are so brainwashed they don't see anything wrong, and their parents are willing participants," Banda says.
Early marriage takes girls out of school and forces them into motherhood before they are biologically ready, contributing to some of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. About 1 800 mothers died for every 100 000 deliveries in 2003, the last year for which figures are available. The practice can also expose girls to HIV/Aids before they are equipped to protect themselves.
The deadly pandemic has left thousands of Malawian children to fend for themselves in a country gripped by perpetual food shortages.
Innat's mother has been in and out of hospital for three years with an illness the family does not name. Her father drinks heavily and provides little for his six children. Innat dropped out of school in 7th grade to work as a maid in Blantyre -- a three-hour walk down a winding, rutted road. But the job didn't pay much, and she continued to struggle.
"I had no money to buy soap or lotion for my body, so I thought the only way was to find a boyfriend to take care of my needs," explains the sad, wide-eyed girl.
Her 13-year-old sister, Isme, escaped home by marrying a painter. So when a young man from their village proposed, Innat thought her problems were solved. When she fell pregnant, he deserted her.
Soon after, a trader came looking to buy charcoal. He too proposed, and she agreed. "I was just thinking about my baby," she says.
Eventually, however, the man returned to the city.
"He said he would come back for me," she says, her eyes welling up, "but he never did." Some 30 to 40 girls drop out every year from the local primary school, where English lessons are taught on a blackboard nailed to a tree. Some leave to help at home, but most get married, says deputy headmaster James Kampira.
Primary school is free, but high school costs around 3 500 kwacha (about $27) a term -- more than many families earn a month.
If there is a choice, they usually give the extra schooling to sons. Just 15% of Malawian girls finish high school, compared with 26% of boys, according to government figures.
Some girls are pressed into marriage for the sake of a dowry, or because their parents have too many mouths to feed. But many enter willingly into unions that give them a kind of status.
Elube Matebule traded a cracked mud-and-thatch home for a brick house with a tin roof when she married her 22-year-old boyfriend, Edwin, last August.
"Life was difficult at home. There wasn't enough food, there weren't enough clothes, there wasn't enough money. But in marriage, I have those things," says Elube, a shy, giggly girl in a torn, white blouse, who says she is 18, but looks barely 14.
Marriage wasn't quite the escape she'd hoped for. Every day the girl who once dreamed of being a nurse is up at dawn to work in her new family's maize field. In the afternoon, she cooks for her husband, his parents and two brothers. Only then can she relax before the work starts again.
"I am very disappointed," she says, sitting on a step, twisting a blade of grass.
The average age of sexual debut is just 12, according to government research. In a few traditional communities, girls are forced to have sex with older men as part of rites initiating them into adulthood. But most have their first experience with a friend or relative.
Girls who have lost one or both parents to HIV/Aids are especially vulnerable to exploitation. In cities like Blantyre, it is not unusual for them to have several "boyfriends" who support them, according to the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) in Malawi. This in turn exposes them to the risk of infection with HIV, the virus that causes Aids.
Some older men will marry young girls after their wives die of HIV/Aids because they believe sex with a virgin will "cleanse" them, says Banda. It is also traditional in some cultures for a man to marry his wife's younger sister if she dies.
The government and Unicef campaign against such practices and hope raising the legal age for marriage will alert people to the dangers.
Others, however, worry the proposed law will leave pregnant teens without even the option of marriage.
Innat has no idea how to fend for two-month-old Crispin. "I wish I had money so I could raise goats to put him through school," she says wistfully. "I see no future for any of us." -- Sapa-AFP
Paladin faces another hurdle in developing its Malawi uranium project
Australian headquartered uranium miner Paladin Resources Inc. (TSX, ASX:PDN) might not be able to roll out its Kayelekera uranium project in Malawi's northern region district of Karonga in 2008 as planned because the mining site is far from being connected to the country's electric power system.
The local media reported over the weekend that Malawi's sole power supplier - Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) - has written Paladin informing it that the corporation cannot solely source funds to connect the required power to the mine site. According to press reports, Escom wants the miner to foot the bill for extending electricity to Kayelekera.
The state-owned company says in order to provide electricity to the mining site, it will require a capital cost based on duty free materials of US$8.810m. However if there will be duty paid on the materials, the same would cost US$10.783m. The utility company would need to upgrade switchgear at Telegraph Hill and construct 80km of 66 KV steel tower supported power line from the country's northern region city of Mzuzu.
In addition, the company will also need to construct 34km of 66 KV wooden pole power line from Karonga town to the proposed mining site, install 12.5 MVA 66/11 KV substation and associated switchgear to Kayelekera. All these have not yet been started raising doubts whether the Kayelekera mining project will be commissioned in 2008 as planned.
Escom Chief Executive Officer Kandi Padambo told The Nation newspaper on Sunday that his company, which has been struggling financially over the years, cannot single-handedly finance the whole project.
"We cannot mobilize that kind of money at one go," Padambo told the paper. "Discussions on the best way forward are underway. We are discussing with Paladin to see how they can help us source money in the form of a loan. It will be a commercial agreement and we cannot have problems to repay the loan because what we will be getting every month will be enough to take
care of that"
The paper says Paladin is yet to respond to the letter Escom wrote on the cost-sharing venture. However Minister of Energy Chimunthu Banda told the paper that Escom is duty bound to connect the mining site although it was understandable that it was not in their plans.
The local media reported over the weekend that Malawi's sole power supplier - Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) - has written Paladin informing it that the corporation cannot solely source funds to connect the required power to the mine site. According to press reports, Escom wants the miner to foot the bill for extending electricity to Kayelekera.
The state-owned company says in order to provide electricity to the mining site, it will require a capital cost based on duty free materials of US$8.810m. However if there will be duty paid on the materials, the same would cost US$10.783m. The utility company would need to upgrade switchgear at Telegraph Hill and construct 80km of 66 KV steel tower supported power line from the country's northern region city of Mzuzu.
In addition, the company will also need to construct 34km of 66 KV wooden pole power line from Karonga town to the proposed mining site, install 12.5 MVA 66/11 KV substation and associated switchgear to Kayelekera. All these have not yet been started raising doubts whether the Kayelekera mining project will be commissioned in 2008 as planned.
Escom Chief Executive Officer Kandi Padambo told The Nation newspaper on Sunday that his company, which has been struggling financially over the years, cannot single-handedly finance the whole project.
"We cannot mobilize that kind of money at one go," Padambo told the paper. "Discussions on the best way forward are underway. We are discussing with Paladin to see how they can help us source money in the form of a loan. It will be a commercial agreement and we cannot have problems to repay the loan because what we will be getting every month will be enough to take
care of that"
The paper says Paladin is yet to respond to the letter Escom wrote on the cost-sharing venture. However Minister of Energy Chimunthu Banda told the paper that Escom is duty bound to connect the mining site although it was understandable that it was not in their plans.
Paladin Resources Ltd.: Kayelekera Project, Malawi
PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- May 28, 2007 -- Paladin Resources Ltd. ("Paladin" or "the Company") (TSX: PDN)(ASX: PDN) wishes to advise shareholders that its subsidiary Paladin (Africa) Limited ("PAL") and the Government of Malawi have been named defendants in two actions commenced by a group of Non-Government Organisations ("NGO's") in Malawi. Shareholders should also be aware that the NGO's claim that their actions are not intended to stop the development of the Kayelekera Project. Mr Mwakasungula of the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation, who has sworn the affidavit in support of the legal actions, states: "Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR), which I represent, and all the other Plaintiffs herein are not against the Kayelekera Project. It is a very welcome project ..."
The two actions referred above seek to delay the Kayelekera Project until the Government and PAL, amongst other things:
(i) rectify alleged deficiencies in the process associated with the grant of approval under the Malawi Environment Management Act ("EMA"); and
(ii) put in place additional protective measures affecting both the local community and the country.
Both the Government and PAL intend to vigorously defend all claims particularly those concerning the Environmental Impact Assessment ("EIA").
The EIA was prepared by Knight Piesold (Pty) Limited ("Knight Piesold"), a member company of the International Knight Piesold Group. Knight Piesold is an engineering and environmental consulting firm based in Johannesburg, South Africa. International Knight Piesold Group has offices in Canada, Australia, the USA, and various offices in Africa and South America. A team of in-house and sub-contracted specialists sourced from Malawi and from around the world were involved in the preparation of the EIA. The EIA was reviewed by the Director of Environmental Affairs in accordance with the EMA prior to the grant to PAL of the approval to proceed with the Kayelekera Project.
The two actions referred above seek to delay the Kayelekera Project until the Government and PAL, amongst other things:
(i) rectify alleged deficiencies in the process associated with the grant of approval under the Malawi Environment Management Act ("EMA"); and
(ii) put in place additional protective measures affecting both the local community and the country.
Both the Government and PAL intend to vigorously defend all claims particularly those concerning the Environmental Impact Assessment ("EIA").
The EIA was prepared by Knight Piesold (Pty) Limited ("Knight Piesold"), a member company of the International Knight Piesold Group. Knight Piesold is an engineering and environmental consulting firm based in Johannesburg, South Africa. International Knight Piesold Group has offices in Canada, Australia, the USA, and various offices in Africa and South America. A team of in-house and sub-contracted specialists sourced from Malawi and from around the world were involved in the preparation of the EIA. The EIA was reviewed by the Director of Environmental Affairs in accordance with the EMA prior to the grant to PAL of the approval to proceed with the Kayelekera Project.
New executive is urged to back pledge of support for Malawi
More than 1000 people have signed a pledge of support for Scotland's Malawi initiative, amid fears that its funding could be adversely affected under the new SNP-led administration.
Alex Salmond, the First Minister, is to be invited to accept the pledge backing the Scotland-Malawi Partnership, which was established to help reduce and relieve poverty in the southern African state.
The umbrella group started three years ago and, through the work of more than 100 Scots organisations and individuals, helps the authorities in the region to develop resources in education, health, water and sanitation.
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While many of its projects are funded for the next "two or three years" Dr Peter West, chairman of the partnership, said it was "just beginning to get a bit concerned" about its long-term prospects.
Jack McConnell, during his term as First Minister, was a major force in strengthening links between Scotland and Malawi, leading to the opening up of the partnership aid programme, worth £4.5m a year.
The partnership's concern would appear to stem from the fact that, though in a pre-election promise the Scottish Nationalist Party committed itself to doubling this international development programme, it would incorporate other Southern African states.
The Scotland-Malawi partnership will now seek assurances over financial support when it invites Mr Salmond and Linda Fabiani, Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture, to the David Livingstone Memorial in Blantyre to give them the 1000-strong pledge.
Dr West said: "We now have more than 1000 signatures pledging support for the partnership projects and plan to write in the next week to the First Minister and Linda Fabiani, asking that the partnership continue to be supported. It has done enormous good in Malawi with 58 projects funded through it."
In April, the work of the partnership enabled Malawian students to come to Scotland, and enroll on tourism degrees at Glasgow Caledonian University. The students were part of a vanguard of gifted entrepreneurs who it is hoped will provide expertise, enthusiasm and business acumen to transform the economy of Malawi.
Other projects benefiting from executive funding have included a tie-up between St Andrew's High School in Kirkcaldy and Domasi Mission School in Malawi. Teachers from the Scots school visited the African state earlier this year and, in a reciprocal arrangement, Malawian teachers are expected to come to Scotland in the autumn.
Earlier this year, surgeon Eric Taylor and his wife, Celia, were the first Scots to travel to Malawi for an executive-backed medical support mission.
The Nationalists have argued the move to double the international aid budget and expend it to other countries would make Scotland a force for good and set an example to other wealthy nations.
Earlier this year, the party's international development team, Pete Wishart, MP, and Alyn Smith, MEP, went on a fact-finding mission to Southern Africa, including Zambia, where they identified future projects and partners.
Dr West said: "We are delighted the SNP is considering doubling the budget. We are the last people who would object to money going into somewhere like Zambia. Our present fund is £4.5m and we can show anyone that, with that sort of money, we can deliver enormous essential benefits to Malawi."
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Executive said it remained "fully committed" to a continuing relationship between Scotland and Malawi.
She added: "Not only is this government fully committed to the relationship between Malawi and Scotland, we are also fully committed to substantially increasing Scotland's international aid budget."
The relationship between Scotland and Malawi goes back to the time of David Livingstone, who journeyed up the Zambezi and Shire rivers to Lake Malawi in 1859. The initiative of individuals has been the defining characteristic of activity between the two countries ever since.
Oxfam, which has worked in Malawi for two decades, claims 65% of Malawians live below the poverty line with 40% attempting to survive on an income of less than 15 pence per day.
Alex Salmond, the First Minister, is to be invited to accept the pledge backing the Scotland-Malawi Partnership, which was established to help reduce and relieve poverty in the southern African state.
The umbrella group started three years ago and, through the work of more than 100 Scots organisations and individuals, helps the authorities in the region to develop resources in education, health, water and sanitation.
advertisement
While many of its projects are funded for the next "two or three years" Dr Peter West, chairman of the partnership, said it was "just beginning to get a bit concerned" about its long-term prospects.
Jack McConnell, during his term as First Minister, was a major force in strengthening links between Scotland and Malawi, leading to the opening up of the partnership aid programme, worth £4.5m a year.
The partnership's concern would appear to stem from the fact that, though in a pre-election promise the Scottish Nationalist Party committed itself to doubling this international development programme, it would incorporate other Southern African states.
The Scotland-Malawi partnership will now seek assurances over financial support when it invites Mr Salmond and Linda Fabiani, Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture, to the David Livingstone Memorial in Blantyre to give them the 1000-strong pledge.
Dr West said: "We now have more than 1000 signatures pledging support for the partnership projects and plan to write in the next week to the First Minister and Linda Fabiani, asking that the partnership continue to be supported. It has done enormous good in Malawi with 58 projects funded through it."
In April, the work of the partnership enabled Malawian students to come to Scotland, and enroll on tourism degrees at Glasgow Caledonian University. The students were part of a vanguard of gifted entrepreneurs who it is hoped will provide expertise, enthusiasm and business acumen to transform the economy of Malawi.
Other projects benefiting from executive funding have included a tie-up between St Andrew's High School in Kirkcaldy and Domasi Mission School in Malawi. Teachers from the Scots school visited the African state earlier this year and, in a reciprocal arrangement, Malawian teachers are expected to come to Scotland in the autumn.
Earlier this year, surgeon Eric Taylor and his wife, Celia, were the first Scots to travel to Malawi for an executive-backed medical support mission.
The Nationalists have argued the move to double the international aid budget and expend it to other countries would make Scotland a force for good and set an example to other wealthy nations.
Earlier this year, the party's international development team, Pete Wishart, MP, and Alyn Smith, MEP, went on a fact-finding mission to Southern Africa, including Zambia, where they identified future projects and partners.
Dr West said: "We are delighted the SNP is considering doubling the budget. We are the last people who would object to money going into somewhere like Zambia. Our present fund is £4.5m and we can show anyone that, with that sort of money, we can deliver enormous essential benefits to Malawi."
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Executive said it remained "fully committed" to a continuing relationship between Scotland and Malawi.
She added: "Not only is this government fully committed to the relationship between Malawi and Scotland, we are also fully committed to substantially increasing Scotland's international aid budget."
The relationship between Scotland and Malawi goes back to the time of David Livingstone, who journeyed up the Zambezi and Shire rivers to Lake Malawi in 1859. The initiative of individuals has been the defining characteristic of activity between the two countries ever since.
Oxfam, which has worked in Malawi for two decades, claims 65% of Malawians live below the poverty line with 40% attempting to survive on an income of less than 15 pence per day.
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