The United States and Britain condemned the violence by Malawi authorities and their crackdown on private radio stations trying to report on the violence.

“In light of continued rioting and rumors of retaliation, we urge restraint from both sides,” the U.S. embassy in Pretoria said in a statement.

Such unrest is almost unheard of in Malawi, ruled for decades after independence in 1964 by the iron-fisted Hastings Banda, and echoes popular uprisings that have engulfed north Africa and the Middle East over the last seven months.

Health ministry spokesman Henry Chimbali confirmed 10 deaths in the northern cities of Karonga and Mzuzu, where protesters angry at chronic fuel shortages and Mutharika’s rule ransacked his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) offices on Wednesday.

Eight others died in the capital, Lilongwe, and Blantyre after police and troops fired tear gas to disperse crowds demanding Mutharika quit as leader of the nation of 13 million.

The deadly crackdown in the normally peaceful former British colony is likely to intensify public anger against Mutharika, a former World Bank economist first elected in 2004, and could destroy his already troubled relationship with the donors who keep his government afloat.

Mutharika has presided over six years of high-paced but aid-funded growth, and the sheen came off earlier this year when he became embroiled in a diplomatic row with Britain, Malawi’s biggest donor, over a leaked embassy cable that referred to him as “autocratic and intolerant of criticism”.

The cable led to the expulsion of Britain’s ambassador to Lilongwe, and in response, Britain expelled Malawi’s representative in London and suspended aid worth $550 million over the next four years.

The freeze has left a yawning hole in the budget of a country that has relied on handouts for 40 percent of its revenues, and intensified a foreign currency shortage that is threatening the kwacha’s peg at 150 to the dollar.

The police and military presence in the southern commercial centre Blantyre has been reduced, vehicles were returning to roads and many citizens planned to attend funerals for those killed in the clashes.

“The situation looks calm this morning, but let’s see what happens in the afternoon,” said Lilongwe resident and freelance journalist George Mtonya.

Reuters.

“Clearly the 2011/12 financial year resource envelope will fall short of our expectations in view of the British decision,” Kandodo told Reuters.

“But Malawi is ready to make tough decisions and choices on spending cuts in order to sustain growth and be able to deliver public services.”

Reuters.

He said the burning of Bibles was carried out by a few Muslim fanatics and the association has ordered them to stop.

Malawi has 1.7 million Muslims, mostly living in the south of the country, that has a population of about 15 million.

The Muslim protest has been widely criticised in secular Malawi, which has had little religious friction.

Reverend McDonald Kadawati, a leading Christian clergyman asked Muslim leaders to ask followers to stop burning Bibles.

“This is a sad case of religious intolerance and we condemn it in all uncertain terms,” Kadawati said. He called on police to arrest those involved.

Inspector General of Police Peter Mukhito said police have launched an investigation but did not say how many Bibles have been burnt.

Gideon’s International, which is dedicated to providing copies of the Bible to people around the globe, said on its Website it has distributed about 90 million Bibles in 22 countries in eastern Africa.

The incident in Malawi comes after U.S. President Barack Obama appealed for religious tolerance last month in response to a Florida pastor’s threat to burn copies of the Koran, which sparked an outcry in the Muslim world.

Reuters.

Karonga District Assembly Chief Executive Officer Gasten Macheka said the tremors continued throughout the night.

“The tremors continued mildly until we felt the intense one this morning. There are no known casualties at this point but we are continuing to monitor the situation,” he told Reuters.

The district had evacuated people from their homes when the first quakes hit on Sunday for fear of a recurrence.

“Houses are continuing to fall in the villages and people are continuing to sleep outside their homes,” Macheka said.

The epicenter was 110 miles (175 km) north of Mzuzu, Malawi’s third largest city, and 75 miles (125 km) southeast of the Tanzanian town of Mbeya.

Police said they were assessing the situation and would give a report later in the morning.

Authorities in Karonga were on high alert in the aftermath of the tremors, which on Sunday injured six people, two seriously, and caused extensive damage to houses, schools and some government offices.

Director of the Malawi Geological Survey Leonard Kalindekafe said the epicentre of the quake was around Chilumba, a small port trading centre on Lake Malawi. He said Malawi’s position within the Great Rift Valley meant such tremors were common.

The area is close to the Tanzanian border and the east African country’s southern town of Mbeya, where there were no initial reports of injuries or damage.

“I felt it at about 6:15 a.m. (0315 GMT). We have no information about people who have been injured. We have no information of buildings which have fallen down,” said Diwani Athumani, regional crimes officer in Mbeya.

Output at Kayelekera uranium mine, owned by Australian Paladin Energy, was not affected by the earlier quakes, which Macheka said began at 1930 GMT on Sunday and continued until 1000 GMT on Monday. The U.S. Geological Survey said those quakes measured between 5.1 and 5.8.

In 1989, a 6.6 earthquake killed at least 9 people and injured 100 in central Malawi and left another 50,000 homeless, according to the USGS.

Reuters.