BLANTYRE, Apr 16 – Several African leaders, including Zimbabwe\’s Robert Mugabe, will attend the wedding of Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika to an ex-tourism minister on Saturday, an official said Friday.
The veteran Zimbabwean leader will be accompanied by his ruling partner Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, said Edward Sawerengera, director general of state residences.
Mozambique, Rwanda and Swaziland will send their prime ministers, while Tanzanian vice president Ali Mohammed will represent his country, he said.
Mutharika, 76, is marrying Callista Chimombo, 50, after his Zimbabwean first wife Ethel died of cancer two years ago.
The highly publicised wedding will blessed by the head of the Catholic church in Malawi, Archbishop Tarcizio Ziyaye, at the 15,000 seater sports stadium in the administrative capital Lilongwe.
Some 5,000 guests will be treated to a banquet at the State House, said the official.
Chimombo was a senior member of Mutharika\’s governing Democratic Progressive Party and is a former legislator. She was appointed as tourism minister in the first cabinet of the president in 2004.
Mutharika, who is current chair of the African Union (AU), is serving his last term as president of the poor southern African nation. He is the country\’s second leader since multi-party democracy in 1994.
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