By George Mponda

Karonga, June 26, Mana: Paramount Chief Kyungu of Karonga and Chitipa has called on Malawians to peacefully mourn late Vice President, Saulos Klaus Chilima and eight others who died in a plane crash.

Kyungu who is also Commissioner for the Malawi Peace and Unity Commission was speaking Monday in Karonga during the opening of a two-day training on conflict prevention and peace building, organised by the Ministry of Local Government Unity and Culture.

"Late Chilima was a leader who loved peace and the best way to honour him and the others who died in that plane crash is to preach peace. I would like to advise Malawians especially youths to desist from violent acts which may lead to unnecessary loss of lives," said Kyungu.

"Youths should not be used as perpetrators of violence in our communities, instead, let us use them as building blocks for peace in our country," he added.

In his remarks, chairperson for Mbande Youth Network, Walusungu Kabaye called on youths to be making decisions based on facts.

"There are people who want to deliberately mislead the public especially the youths with false information concerning the death of Chilima but I would like to advise my fellow youths to use information that is coming from government officials who have this responsibility," Kabaye said.

"As youths, we really need to be very careful especially this period as we are going towards the next general election to avoid being used by politicians to advance their own selfish agenda," he added.

 The training has brought together chiefs, religious leaders, civil society organisations, youth and political party representatives.