Malawi’s president lashed out at anti-government demonstrators today, as two days of protests left at least 10 people dead in unprecedented levels of unrest in this southern African nation.

Madonna and her husband Guy Ritchie have jetted out of Malawi after gaining preliminary custody of a one-year-old boy they want to adopt in an apparently streamlined procedure that sparked criticism from a child protection organisation.

Opposition supporters rampaged through Malawi’s streets after electoral officials declared President Bakili Muluzi’s designated successor the winner of the impoverished southern African country’s third multi-party elections.