The Palestine Solidarity Movement in Malawi has asked President Lazarus Chakwera to cut off ties with the Israel. The group is accusing Israel of violating genocide convention guidelines.
In a letter signed by its Project Coordinator, Asabuni Phiri, the movement says it is surprised that Malawi continues to hold ties with Israel when the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in January that Israel is plausibly committing genocide in Gaza and ordered it to stop any further genocidal acts.
Penned by the movement for the president, the letter comes a few weeks after Malawi announced the opening of its embassy in Tel aviv.
Malawi was not supposed to open an embassy in Tel Aviv, the movement states in the letter saying that the country risks complicity in genocide and contradicts the country’s history of emerging from colonisation.
“Given Israel’s flagrant violations of international humanitarian law, war crimes, and occupation of Palestinian Territories, we urge our leadership to reconsider its ties with Israel. The recent deepening of relations, including opening an embassy in Tel Aviv, is alarming, especially amidst allegations of genocide.
“The establishment of an embassy is a privilege that Israel does not deserve at this time. We ask why our government is seemingly rewarding a regime for murdering over 34,000 people, 75% of whom are children, women, and the elderly, and starving hundreds of thousands more,” reads part of the letter to President Chakwera.
The letter goes on to challenge the Malawi leadership to push for Israel’s suspension from participating in all activities within the United Nations General Assembly.
On another hand, the Movement has also urged the Malawi leadership to push for the State of Palestine to be recognised as a member of the United Nations, for the sovereignty of its territories to be respected, for violations of Palestinian human rights to be investigated, and for the right of return to be enacted.
According to the letter, like their counterparts in Gaza, Palestinians in the West Bank have been facing an extermination campaign since October 7th 2023, both at the hands of the Israeli military and armed settler militias.
Among others, the letter has been copied to the Malawi Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Speaker of the Malawi parliament, the United Nations Development Program, the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHCR), and the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC).
