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Malawi journalist arrested over Tanzania envoy report
Malawi President Joyce Banda. Her government asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to mediate the border dispute with Tanzania. Photo/AFP
Malawi journalist Justice Mponda has been charged in court for publishing false reports.
Mr Mponda was arrested Monday morning, for among others, reporting that Tanzanian High Commissioner to Malawi Patrick Tsere had been declared persona non grata and ordered to leave Malawi within 48 hours.
He was picked up in the wee hours by heavily armed police officers in an armoured vehicle at his Chiwembe residence in Blantyre.
He was taken to Blantyre police station for questioning before being charged in court.
Mr Mponda's articles, according to the Malawi online news website Nyasa Times, stemmed from a fake Facebook account of the President, which he is linked to have been using.
One of them, Nyasa Times reported, ''alleged that the Tanzanian diplomat was declared persona non grata and has been required to leave the country following an interview on a local radio, Zodiak''.
