Malawian Defence Force

The Malawi Defence Force^[2] is the state military organisation responsible for defending Malawi. It originated from elements of the British King's African Rifles, colonial units formed before independence in 1964.

Malawian Defence Force

Malawi Army
Maritime Force^[1]
Malawi Air Force

Kamazu Barracks, Lilongwe

Lazarus Chakwera

Paul Valentino Phiri

25,500

$70 million (FY00/01)

0.76% (FY00/01)

France
Portugal
Russia
South Africa
United Kingdom
United States

Mozambican Civil War
Operation Bwezani
M23 Rebellion
ADF Insurgency

Military ranks of Malawi

The military is organized under the purview of the Ministry of Defence.

Namacurra-class harbour patrol boat

Landing Craft Mechanized

As a landlocked country, Malawi has a very small Navy with no sizeable military craft. Malawi's naval force only operates on Lake Malawi and is based at Monkey Bay. The Malawi Navy was organized in the early 1970s, with the help of the Navy of Portugal that ceded part of its boats of the Nyassa Flotilla operating from the then Portuguese province of Mozambique.^[37] In some cases, the gunboats of the Malawian Navy were initially crewed by Portuguese.^[10] In 2007, the navy had 220 personnel,^[37] and operated the following vessels:

Nyasaland in World War II

Malawi Armed Forces College FC

Lilongwe

Kamuzu Barracks FC

Carver, Richard (1994). . (date was 1 May 1994; accessed April 2021)

"Malawi: Between the Referendum and the Elections"

Finnegan, William (1992). . Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-08266-4.

A Complicated War: The Harrowing of Mozambique

World Aircraft Information Files. Brightstar Publishing, London. File 337 Sheet 02

World Aircraft Information Files. Brightstar Publishing, London. File 340 Sheet 05

Crosby, Cynthia A. Historical Dictionary of Malaŵi. Vol. 54. Scarecrow Press, 1993. "Army" entry.

Nelson, Harold D., Malawi: A Country Study, Library of Congress, Federal Research Division, Washington DC, 1975.

Tim Lovering, "RACE AND HIERARCHY IN BRITAIN'S COLONIAL ARMY IN NYASALAND (MALAWI), 1891-1964," Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, Vol. 91, No. 366 (Summer 2013), pp. 120–142.

Lieutenant Colonel A.D. Namangale psc, "A Brief History of the Malawi Rifles to Mark the Centenary of the Formation of the King's African Rifles 1902-2002." LMalawi Defence Forces Headquarters. 22 page illus. booklet. 2002. K200.

Jonathan Newell, "An African army under pressure: The politicisation of the Malawi army and ‘Operation Bwezani’, 1992–93, , Vol. 6, No. 2, 1995, pp159–182, https://doi.org/10.1080/09592319508423107.

Small Wars and Insurgencies

James Njoloma, "The Malaŵi Army : a hundred years today, [Lilongwe?] : J. Njoloma, [1991] (details from )

WorldCat

Hartone L. Phiri, "The Rebellion of Enlisted Personnel and Democratisation in Malawi" Naval Postgraduate School, 2011

[1]

Martin Rupiya (2005). "The odd man out: A history of the Malawi army since July 1964". (PDF). Institute for Security Studies.

Evolutions and revolutions: A contemporary history of militaries in Southern Africa

Tim Stapleton. "'Bad Boys': Infiltration and Sedition in the African Military Units of the Central African Federation (Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe) 1953-163." The Journal of Military History 73, no.4 (2009): 1167–1193.

Also relevant:

Malawian Defence Force