page_title: Bingu wa Mutharika
section_title: Chairman of the African Union
hierarchical_section_title: Bingu wa Mutharika / Chairman of the African Union
caption_attribution_description: English: Group photo of the 2010 G-20 Toronto summit family photo &#8212; Delegates from left to right (front row): Kirchner, Calderón, Yudhoyono, Hu, Lee, Harper, Obama, Abdullah, Sarkozy; (middle row): Mutharika, Berlusconi, Merkel, Zapatero, Balkenende, Zuma, Medvedev, Zenawi, Erdoğan, Singh, Dũng, Cameron; (top row): unidentified female, Lamy, Strauss-Kahn, Ban, Rompuy, Swan, Kan, Mantega, Barroso, Zoellick, Gurría, Draghi
context_page_description: Bingu wa Mutharika was a Malawian politician and economist who was President of Malawi from May 2004 until his death in April 2012. He was also President of the Democratic Progressive Party, which he founded in February 2005; it obtained a majority in Malawi's parliament in the 2009 general election. During his two terms in office, he was noted for being the Chairperson of the African Union in 2010–2011, as well as for several domestic controversies. In 2009, he purchased a private presidential jet for $13.26 million. This was followed almost immediately by a nationwide fuel shortage which was officially blamed on logistical problems, but was more likely due to the hard currency shortage caused by the freezing of aid by the international community He died in office from a cardiac arrest on 5 April 2012, at age 78.
context_section_description: On 31 January 2010, Mutharika replaced Muammar al-Gaddafi as chairman of the African Union after Gaddafi's attempt to run as the African Union chairman for an additional year failed. Mutharika was Malawi's first head of state to assume the position of chairman. In his acceptance speech he said that "Africa is not a poor continent, but the African population are poor" and called for "Africa to develop Africa". He shared his vision for the African Food Basket Initiative by making food security a priority in his agenda.
  On 4 April he attended the 50th anniversary in celebration of Senegalese independence as the African Union chairman. He also attended the G8 summit in Canada and the G20 summit in Seoul, South Korea.
  On 26 July, he attended the African Union summit in Kampala, Uganda, where he condemned the International Criminal Court (ICC) for issuing a warrant to arrest Omar al Bashir because it undermined African authority. They adopted the African Food Basket Initiative here which was presented to the UN on 29 September. On 6 September, he attended the inauguration of Rwandan President Paul Kagame. He attended the Iran-Africa Conference, which aimed at strengthening ties between Iran and African countries. During a speech at Boston University, Mutharika defended his subsidy program and noted that although Western countries say African governments should not subsidise agriculture, Western governments subsidise their own farmers. Malawi hosted Africa's first conference that brought together Ministers of Agriculture in Africa where they were urged to fight for subsidies in agriculture. He did not attend the Africa-EU Trade summit in Libya but no official reason was provided for this move. During his tenure, he joined international calls for Laurent Gbagbo to accept defeat following the 2010 Ivorian presidential election.
caption: G20 summit
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