20100418
africanews

Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika has tied the nuptial knot with former tourism minister Saturday in a colourful ceremony at a stadium packed with guests, including several African leaders.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, prime ministers from Mozambique, Rwanda and Swaziland, the vice president of Tanzania and ex-presidents from Mozambique and Zambia attended the highly publicised wedding between Mutharika, 76, and ex-tourism minister Callista Chimombo, 50, according to the AFP.

Mutharika, the current chairman of the African Union, is marrying for the second time after his first wife, Ethel, died of cancer two years ago.

Chimombo, a former legislator, was a senior member of Mutharika's governing Democratic Progressive Party. In 2004, she was appointed tourism minister in Mutharika's first cabinet.
Wearing a white suit with white gloves and riding in a white limousine, Mutharika arrived shortly after 9 am (0700 GMT) at the 15,000-seat Civo Stadium in the administrative capital, Lilongwe.

The limousine, a rare car in the poor southern African nation, was a donation from China, a government official told AFP.

"The government did not buy the limousine," said Edward Sawerengera, director general of state residences. "It has been provided by a well-wisher," he said.

Archbishop Tarcizio Ziyaye, head of the country's nearly three million Catholics, blessed the wedding from a special podium built to resemble a church.

From the stadium, the first couple rode in the limousine through several Lilongwe shanty towns, waving to the crowds that thronged the dusty roads.

The couple then hosted a state-house banquet for nearly 5,000 invited guests.