A lightning strike killed eight worshipers including a child at a church in Malawi's capital Lilongwe on Saturday, a health ministry official said.

"The worshipers were having an extended session of Saturday prayers when lightning struck their church at around 4.30pm," Charles Mwansambo, chief of health services in the ministry of health, told Agence France Presse.

Malawi police said Friday they have arrested axed justice minister Ralph Kasambara for the failed assassination attempt of a corruption-busting treasury official in September.

"I can confirm about the arrest of Kasambara last (Thursday) night because he is a suspect and we want to establish his involvement in the shooting incident," national police spokesman Kelvin Maigwa told Agence France Presse.

Malawi has demanded an official explanation from South Africa after comments by President Jacob Zuma labeling his near neighbor as backward, an official said Thursday.

Malawi has already summoned South Africa's top diplomat, High Commissioner Cassandra Makone, over the gaffe.

The European Union on Saturday called on impoverished Malawi to rapidly deal with rampant corruption after President Joyce Banda fired her entire cabinet in an unprecedented move to restore donor confidence.

Banda dissolved her cabinet on Thursday in the wake of a massive fraud scandal that has rocked her government this month.

Southern African leaders called Sunday for the West to lift sanctions against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his inner circle as they gave their seal of approval to his victory in disputed elections.

Wrapping up its annual summit, the 15-nation Southern African Development Community called for "the lifting of all forms of sanctions hitherto imposed on Zimbabwe", leveled against the veteran president and blacklisted firms and individuals.

Nearly 10 percent of Malawi's 13 million people face hunger due of low yields of the main staple maize, prolonged dry spells and flooding, a report released Saturday said.

"The total number of people who will not be able to meet their annual food requirement during the 2013/14 consumption period is 1,461,940, representing 9.5 percent of national total population," the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee said.

Malawi is distributing free AIDS drugs to half a million people after years of nationwide HIV tests by the poor southern African nation, President Joyce Banda said Friday.

"Half of the population has so far been tested for HIV and half a million people are now on free drugs," Banda was quoted by state television as telling the first meeting of the UNAIDS and Lancet Commission in the administrative capital Lilongwe.

U.S. pop icon Madonna on Thursday deepened a war of words with Malawi's government, accusing them of peddling lies about her charity work.

Fresh from a trip to Malawi, the native country of her two adopted children, Madonna hit back after stinging accusations from government that she had expected VIP treatment and lied about her charity work.

Malawi has launched a stinging attack on U.S. pop icon Madonna, accusing her of expecting "gratitude" and VIP treatment during a visit last week to her charity work in the southern African country.

It was "strange and depressing" that the singer seemed to want "Malawi to be forever chained to the obligation of gratitude" for having adopted two Malawian children, said President Joyce Banda's government on Wednesday.

President Joyce Banda on Monday said Malawi was giving up on mediation efforts and would take to the courts to settle a long dormant border dispute with Tanzania which has been re-activated by prospects of an oil find.

"Our view is that we should eventually go to court. We should not waste time on this (mediation)," Banda told reporters in Lilongwe on return from visits to the United States and Britain.