FOREIGN
RELATIONS
Malawi
has continued the pro-Western foreign policy established by former
President Banda. It maintains excellent diplomatic relations with
principal Western countries. Malawi's close relations with South
Africa throughout the apartheid era strained its relations with
other African nations. Following the collapse of apartheid in
1994, Malawi developed, and currently maintains, strong diplomatic
relations with all African countries.
Between
1985 and 1995, Malawi accommodated more than a million refugees
from Mozambique. The refugee crisis placed a substantial strain
on Malawi's economy but also drew significant inflows of international
assistance. The accommodation and eventual repatriation of the
Mozambicans is considered a major success by international organizations.
In 1996, Malawi received a number of Rwandan and Congolese refugees
seeking asylum. The government did not turn away refugees, but
it did invoke the principle of "first country of asylum."
Under this principle, refugees who requested asylum in another
country first, or who had the opportunity to do so, would not
subsequently be granted asylum in Malawi. There were no reports
of the forcible repatriation of refugees.
Important
bilateral donors, in addition to the U.S., include Canada, Libya,
Germany, Iceland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Taiwan,
and the United Kingdom. Multilateral donors include the World
Bank, the IMF, the European Union, the African Development Bank,
and the United Nations organizations.
Malawi
is a member of the following international organizations: UN and
some of its specialized and related agencies (i.e. UNCTAD, UNESCO,
UNIDO), IMF, World Bank, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency
(MIGA), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Berne
Convention, Universal Copyright Convention, African Union, Lome
Convention, African Development Bank (AFDB), Southern African
Development Community (SADC), the Common Market for East and Southern
Africa (COMESA), Nonaligned Movement, G-77, and the World Health
Organization (WHO).
U.S.-MALAWIAN
RELATIONS
The transition from a one-party state to a multi-party democracy significantly strengthened the already cordial U.S. relationship with Malawi. Significant numbers of Malawians study in the United States. The United States has an active Peace Corps program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services, and an Agency for International Development (USAID) mission in Malawi.
U.S. and
Malawian views on the necessity of economic and political stability
in southern Africa generally coincide. Through a pragmatic assessment
of its own national interests and foreign policy objectives, Malawi
advocates peaceful solutions to the region's problems through
negotiation. Malawi works to achieve these objectives in the United
Nations, COMESA, and SADC. Malawi is the first southern African
country to receive peacekeeping training under the U.S.-sponsored
African Crisis Response Force Initiative (ACRI) and has joined
the successor program, African Contingency Operations Training
Assistance (ACOTA). It has an active slate of peacetime engagement
military-to-military programs. The two countries maintain a continuing
dialogue through diplomatic representatives and periodic visits
by senior officials.
U.S.
Agency for International Development (USAID)
The United States has a substantial foreign assistance program in Malawi. The U.S. Government has provided approximately $70 million annually in development assistance to Malawi under USAID's Country Strategic Plan (CSP). The primary goal of USAID assistance is poverty reduction and increased food security through broad-based, market-led economic growth, focusing on four areas: sustainable increases in rural incomes, increased civic involvement in the rule of law, improved access to and quality of health services, and improved access to quality basic education. The USAID program is implemented in partnership with the Government of Malawi, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), other U.S. Government agencies, U.S. private voluntary organizations, contractors, and other partners, including the private sector through public-private partnerships.
USAID's program to increase rural incomes includes training and technical assistance to promote growth in the agricultural sector, including through public-private partnerships. USAID has also supported microfinance institutions providing financial services. In support of democracy and governance, U.S. assistance supports fighting corruption, improving fiscal responsibility, and establishing a more transparent and effective judiciary. As a result of progress made in the fight against corruption, Malawi qualified as a compact-eligible country under the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in December 2007. The government is currently working on compact development.
USAID continues to support the Sector Wide Approach to Health (SWAP) through discrete initiatives aimed at "increased use of improved health behaviors and services" for maternal, child, and reproductive health, including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Together with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USAID’s continuing implementation of President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) supported programs is having a substantial impact on health indicators in the country.
Improving the quality and efficiency of basic education remain the major development challenges in the Malawi education system. USAID continues to fund activities that target quality of and access to the primary education sub-sector level, which is having a positive effect at both the local and national levels. At the local level, USAID-funded activities are helping communities and parents make more informed decisions to improve the quality of primary schooling.
The United States is the largest contributor to the World Food Program (WFP) in Malawi, providing over $100 million in food and other emergency assistance through WFP since early 2002. USAID will coordinate requests to the U.S. Government for humanitarian assistance, and WFP will handle the logistics of import and distribution.
Peace
Corps
The first Peace Corps volunteers arrived in Malawi in 1963. Under the conservative Banda regime, the program was suspended for several years due to the "nonconformist" role of some volunteers but was restored in 1978. Since that time, the program has developed a close working relationship with the Government of Malawi. In total, over 2,200 Americans have served as Peace Corps volunteers in Malawi. Currently, there are about 140 volunteers working in health, education, and environment.
Principal U.S. Officials
Ambassador--Peter W. Bodde
Deputy Chief of Mission--Kevin Sullivan
USAID Mission Director--Curt Reintsma
Peace Corps Director--Dale Mosier
Centers for Disease Control Director--Austin Demby
The U.S. Embassy in Malawi is situated in the diplomatic enclave adjacent to Lilongwe's City Center section. The address is American Embassy, P.O. Box 30016, Lilongwe 3, Malawi (tel. +265- (0)1 773 166/342/367; fax +265- (0)1 772-471).
