Police to quiz former Malawi president over 'coup plot' : minister

Police in Malawi will on Monday quiz former president Bakili Muluzi over a coup plot allegedly hatched by his party and a former army general, said Home Affairs Minister Ernest Malenga.

"He (Muluzi) will be questioned by police over the coup plot," Malenga told AFP.

Fahad Assani, lawyer for Muluzi, said the ex-leader was "arrested on treason charges."

Muluzi will be questioned at his residence in Limbe, a satellite town of the commercial capital Blantyre, where early Monday morning a dozen armed policemen cordoned off the road leading to the house.

An AFP correspondent saw about a dozen armed policemen manning a roadblock leading to the house, as police chased away pedestrians who approached.

Muluzi, who is virtually under house arrest, was arrested on Sunday at the country's main airport in Lilongwe as he arrived home from a holiday in Britain.

After alighting from an Air Malawi flight, Muluzi told a radio station he owns that he spent time arguing with police on why he was being arrested on the tarmac of an airport.

He was flown in a military plane to Blantyre where police raided his residence to "search for arms," Muluzi told Joy radio.

"I allowed them to search everywhere, but they found nothing," he added.

The former president, who wrested power from dictator Kamuzu Banda in the country's first democratic elections, has been linked to a coup plot which was allegedly being hatched by his party and former army general and serving brigadiers.

Muluzi has said he is not a "violent person to take over government by force."

The ex-leader ruled the impoverished nation from 1994 to 2004 before handing over power to his chosen successor Bingu wa Mutharika.

Mutharika, who has been at loggerheads with the ex-leader since he ditched Muluzi's former ruling party to form his own, has recently voiced fears of a plot to topple him.

Mutharika said two weeks ago that he had received intelligence that Muluzi, his chief opponent in elections next year, was "planning to remove me through Section 65".

"That is treason... even in Britain or America, a person who tries to overthrow government faces punishment," Mutharika added.

The president was referring to a controversial constitutional clause which has sparked heated debate in the southern African nation as it allows the speaker of parliament to sack lawmakers who have crossed the floor.

Mutharika's minority government poached most of its MPs from the opposition and his rivals are now trying to pressure the speaker to sack the lawmakers and thus force the president out of office.

Eight people, including a former army general and police chief, and two serving brigadiers, were last week granted bail after being charged with treason.