Taiwan diverts Malawi aid to Swaziland

All the donation initially destined to Malawi will be diverted to Swaziland following the breaking of diplomatic ties between Malawi and Taiwan in favour of mainland China in January.

The first grant is constituted of 10 cars intended for use by Malawi Army. This comes in the awake of Taiwan's closure of their Malawi diplomatic mission.

Sources close to the matter told Malawi's local daily, the Daily Times, that the vehicles were hauled last week after intense negotiations with the Malawi government.

Toyota Malawi's Business Development and Marketing Manager Richard Makondi said the 50 million Malawi Kwacha worth of vehicles had been delivered to officials of the Taiwanese embassy 'long ago.'

Swaziland is one of the four countries in Africa still with diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

Malawi Revenue Authority(MRA) Public Relations Officer said Thursday he did not have details on whether the vehicles had crossed the borders to Swaziland but he said in the event that the vehicles are to be transported to Swaziland, there was no need for Taiwan to pay duty to Malawi government.

This is because the vehicles were imported into the country and were just being exported.

Two months ago, just soon after the southern African country severed ties with Taiwan, officials from the embassy in Malawi's capital, Lilongwe demanded 50 million Kwacha the embassy paid for 10 vehicles which the Malawi Army wanted.

Over 40 jobs held by Malawians at the embassy and other affiliate departments were lost following the closure of the embassy.