Attati Mpakati (died 24 March 1983 in

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

) was a

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established Political system, political or Organized religion, religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and ...

and - following the death of

Yatuta Chisiza Yatuta Chisiza (born 1926 – died October 1967, near Blantyre, Malawi) was a Malawi minister of home affairs who led a brief guerrilla incursion into the country in October 1967. He entered Mwanza district from Tanzania with nine others. In the ...

- leader of the

Socialist League of Malawi The Socialist League of Malawi (LESOMA) was a political party officially founded in 1974 in Tanzania by exiled Malawians. Its then self-declared goals were to re-establish the honor of Malawi, its legitimate place in the Organisation of African Un ...

(LESOMA) from 1975 until his death. He was killed by a letter bomb while in exile in Zimbabwe. It is widely suspected that the parcel was sent by agents of President

Hastings Banda Hastings Kamuzu Banda (1898 – 25 November 1997) was the Prime Minister of Malawi, prime minister and later President of Malawi, president of Malawi from 1964 to 1994 (from 1964 to 1966, Malawi was an independent Dominion / Commonwealth realm) ...

. Mpakati had survived a similar attack in 1979, which President Banda admitted ordering. After this first attack, which crippled both of his hands, Mpakati, together with his wife and children, first flew to London for medical treatment and then tried without success to fly to East Berlin to meet with the exiled LESOMA representative for Eastern Europe Mahoma M. Mwaungulu.SAPMO-BArchiv (German Federal Archive for the political parties and mass organizations of the German Democratic Republic), DZ 8/186, telegram from Berlin to the embassy of the German Democratic Republic in London, 02.06.1980

References

Literature

Searle, Chris
Struggling against the "Bandastan": an interview with Attati Mpakati
Race & Class 1980, 21: 389-401 Year of birth missing 1983 deaths Malawian politicians Assassinated activists Malawian socialists Assassinated Malawian people Malawian democracy activists Malawian exiles Malawian people murdered abroad Deaths by letter bomb People murdered in Zimbabwe 1983 murders in Zimbabwe 1979 crimes in Africa {{Malawi-politician-stub