Although Ms Banda was elected as Bingu wa Mutharika's running mate, the pair had fallen out long before he died of a heart attack last April, after it became apparent that he wanted his brother to succeed him.
The most dramatic moment of the brief debate on the Kyl Amendment came when one of its cosponsors, Rep. John Miller (R-WA), revealed that a short while before in a meeting with Members of Congress, he had personally asked the visiting President-elect of the Russian Republic, Boris Yeltsin, what be thought of putting conditions on U.S. aid to the Soviet Union.