Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir plans to attend a regional summit this week in Malawi, the trade minister said Wednesday, in defiance of the international war crimes warrant against him.

The 19-member Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) holds its annual summit Friday in Malawi's capital Lilongwe.

Trade minister John Bande said that Bashir was among six heads of state expected to attend the meeting, along with Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, Eritrea's Issaias Afeworki, Burundi's Pierre Nkurunziza, and Swazi King Mswati III.

"The presidents will come from Zimbabwe, Sudan, Eriteria and Burundi," he said. He did not comment on the war crimes warrant against Bashir.

A first
Bashir is the first sitting president indicted by the International Criminal Court, which issued a warrant for his arrest on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Sudan's troubled Darfur region.

Malawi has ratified the Rome Statute, the ICC's founding document, which obliges the country to arrest him if Bashir enters the country.

But President Bingu wa Mutharika said in March that African leaders should not be dragged to The Hague for crimes committed in Africa, and a senior police official said that Bashir would not be arrested here.

"It appears the president backs Bashir," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The president does not like the ICC and he would not want to embarrass Bashir by arresting him in Malawi and sending him to the ICC," the official said.

Mutharika has urged Africa to "stand up and be courageous to try our own leaders so that no African should be dragged to court outside our own judiciary system."

Legal obligation
A lawyer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Malawi has a legal obligation to arrest him.

"If he was not arrested by police, Malawi would be seen to be traitors, a country not committed to abide by international laws," he said.

The COMESA summit is expected to follow up on commitments to create a free trade bloc by joining the East African Community and the Southern African Development Community.

The deal announced last year would create an $875 billion market across 26 countries stretching from Cape Town to Cairo.

Trade within COMESA reached $13.7 billion last year, up from $3 billion in 2000, Bande said.

Non grata
But the summit now looks set to be overshadowed by diplomatic spats, after Zambia's new President Michael Sata said he would not attend.

When Sata was still an opposition leader in 2006, he was deported from Malawi and declared persona non grata for reasons that were never made clear.

Sata says he will not go to Malawi until he receives an apology, although Mutharika has said he is now welcome to visit.