LILONGWE, Malawi, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- It isn't the government of Malawi's business to arrest visiting Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on an ICC warrant, the country's information minister said.
Bashir arrived Friday in Malawi to attend a summit for the regional trade bloc, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa. In a statement, Catherine Ashton, Europe's foreign policy chief, pressed Malawi to arrest Bashir during the visit.
But Information Minister Patricia Kaliait told the BBC it was an honor hosting the Sudanese head of state.
"He's coming for business and we don't have any business to do with the arrest of President Omar (al-Bashir)," she said.
Malawi is a signatory to the International Criminal Court but has moved against the international court under President Bingu wa Mutharika.
Bashir is wanted by the ICC for war crimes committed in Sudan's troubled Darfur region. Khartoum isn't party to the Rome Statute that created the international court, however.
Three members of the African Union-U.N. Hybrid Operation in Darfur, or UNAMID, were killed at the Zam Zam camp for the internally displaced in an overnight ambush, the mission said.
Six other peacekeepers were injured and one assailant was killed in the attack.
More than 30 members of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Darfur have been killed since it took over from an African Union force in 2008.
