MALAWI: Charcoal is a burning issue

BLANTYRE Wednesday, October 08, 2008 (IRIN) - Faisoni Kandoje, 38, has sold charcoal for nearly two decades. Each day he sets up his stall along one of the major highways in Blantyre, Malawi's commercial hub, to provide for himself and his four children. Charcoal production has been illegal since independence from Britain in 1966, and although the authorities turned a blind eye to the industry after Malawi's autocratic leader, Hastings Kamuzu Banda, was voted out of office in the 1994...