On Wednesday, March 4th 2009, judges from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands issued an arrest warrant for the President of Sudan: Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir. This is the first time the ICC has issued an arrest warrant for a head-of-state while they were still in power.

The following day a rally in support of Bashir was held in downtown Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, where Bashir himself gave a speech to a cheering crowd of over 10,000.  Bashir also expelled 13 foreign aid agencies including Oxfam and Save the Children UK  which he described on Saturday, March 7th as being “thieves” and “spies”, accusing them of taking “99% of the budget for humanitarian work themselves and giving the people of Darfur 1%” 3 local organizations were also shut down.

But the United Nations has claimed that these expulsions would severely impact the lives of 2 million people in Darfur, since the expulsions have affected nearly 40% of the Aid-Workers there.

Bashir arrived in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur on March 8th, where thousands of people lined the route from the airport to the city-centre welcoming Bashir who stood in full view from the back of a small truck. In the City-Centre of El Fasher Bashir held a rally saying that Sudan would not “submit” or “surrender” to the ICC as he called them the “real criminals”.

“They are liars and hypocrites,  that is why from my position here in El Fasher I say to them: the International Criminal Court prosecutor and its members and all those who support them are beneath my shoes” said Bashir. ” They speak as if they are masters of the world, as if they determine the fate of all the peoples of the world”

Analysts have said that Bashir placed himself in some personal danger by visiting El Fasher; the Justice and Equality Movement, one of the most active insurgencies against the Sudan government and who just last May launched an unprecedented attack on Khartoum, have in the past threatened to target El Fasher.

In his speech Bashir also said: “I have a message to all the diplomatic missions in Sudan, the non-governmental organizations and peacekeepers. They have to respect the rule of the country, if anyone goes further than the rule of the country we will kick them out directly” ”

The United Nations Security Council on the 7th of March, at its first meeting since the arrest warrant was issued, failed to agree upon a statement asking Sudan to reverse the decision to expel the aid agencies.

Amr Moussa, Secretary-General of the Arab League met with Bashir in the Presidential Palace on the same day to discuss the arrest warrant. Moussa has since said that the Arab League will continue to support Bashir and that the ICC decission has provoked the “anger of the Arab League”.

The United Nations estimates that around 300,000 people have been killed and 2.7 million displaced in Darfur since 2003.

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