Malawi President Banda Sacks Rival Peter Mutharika

Malawi's new leader Joyce Banda has sacked her foreign minister, Peter Mutharika, the brother of the late president who recently died in office. He had been anointed as heir-apparent for the 2014 elections when Bingu wa Mutharika was due to retire. The dramatic cabinet reshuffle comes days after the burial of the former president at his farm on Monday. Ms Banda had been vice-president since 2009 but later fell out with the president and became a fierce critic. She was forced to resign from his Democratic Progressive Party in 2010 when she refused to endorse his choice of Peter Mutharika to succeed him. In the wake of Mr Mutharika's death on 5 April, there had been concerns that allies of the foreign minister would try to stop the constitutional transfer of power to Mrs Banda, who had set up her own political party.