Nyasaland Emergency 1959 unwilling to release most of the detainees. The Malawi Congress Party was formed as the successor to the banned Nyasaland African Congress by Orton Chirwa after his release from detention in August 1959 as interim President, although he acknowledged Banda as the party's true leader, a position that Banda assumed on his own release and return to Nyasaland. Those other African politicians that had put themselves forward as moderate alternatives to Banda were, Armitage himself admitted, not credible and without influence. Armitage's hopes of negotiating with Orton Chirwa instead of Banda were dashed when Chirwa said that only Banda had
Nyasaland Emergency 1959 March. He provided what ISD considered was a detailed and accurate statement, corroborated by other witnesses, Karua subsequently repudiated his statement and appeared before the Delvin Commission in London. The Nyasaland Police Special Branch in 1959 comprised eight European officers and between 20 and 30 African ones. It was the latter, not the Europeans, who recruited and managed a number of undercover informers; each informer reporting directly and exclusively to a particular African officer, who they owed their loyalty to. At most, one informant was present at the secret meeting of 25 January 1959; other informants’ reported at second hand,