Malawi to Bashir: We will arrest youBy REX CHIKOKO in Blantyre | Monday, June 4  2012 at  11:54

Malawi President Joyce Banda has assured British Secretary of State for International Affairs-Andrew Mitchell that the country will arrest Sudanese President Hassan Omar Al-Bashir if he sets foot in the country.

Ms Banda said this in a closed door meeting with Mr Mitchell in Blantyre, settling the issues surrounding Malawi's position on the Sudanese President.

President Bashir is expected in Malawi next month, with other African leaders for the 19th Summit of the African Union.

Initially, Malawi sought the opinion of the AU to convince President Bashir not to attend the summit. However, the continental bloc said they had no mandate to stop a sitting president of a member country from attending.

In October last year, President Bashir was among six heads of state attending a meeting of the 19-member Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) in the tiny landlocked nation and returned home later in the weekend unhindered.

Bashir is the first sitting president indicted by the ICC, which issued an arrest warrant on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Sudan's troubled Darfur region.