By Andrew Heavens, Reuters
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir announced on Thursday that 10 foreign aid agencies had been expelled, in his first public response to the International Criminal Court's call for his arrest on war crimes charges.
The arrest warrant issued on Wednesday for atrocities in Sudan's western Darfur region is the first against a sitting head of state by the Hague-based ICC.
Bashir responded with defiance, accusing the aid agencies of breaking the law and saying the government would tackle any move to undermine stability.
"We will deal responsibly and decisively with anybody who tries to target the stability and security of the country," Bashir told a meeting of top politicians on Thursday.
"We have expelled 10 foreign organizations ... after monitoring activities that act in contradiction to all regulation and laws," he said.
He later addressed thousands of supporters demonstrating against the ICC decision. Protesters carried banners branding the court's prosecutor a criminal and Bashir, brandishing a cane, said the ICC was a tool of colonialists after Sudan's oil.
"We have refused to kneel to colonialism, that is why Sudan has been targeted ... because we only kneel to God," he told the crowd outside the Republican Palace. Cheers of "We are ready to protect religion!" and "Down, down USA!" interrupted his speech.
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China urged the U.N. Security Council on Thursday to heed calls from African and Arab countries and suspend the case against Bashir, but the United States has welcomed the action.
The ICC, set up in 2002, indicted Bashir on seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, which included murder, rape and torture. The three-judge panel said it had insufficient grounds for genocide.
Hours after the warrant was issued, Sudan revoked the licenses of several foreign aid agencies.
U.N. and other agencies are running the world's largest humanitarian operation in Darfur, a mainly desert region in western Sudan. International experts say at least 200,000 people have been killed there, while Khartoum says 10,000 have died.
A further 2.7 million people are estimated to have been uprooted by the conflict, which began when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against the government in 2003.
DEVASTATING IMPACT
U.N. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the expulsions would have a devastating impact on Darfuris, adding that Sudanese security had already started taking computers and other assets from the agencies' offices in Khartoum and Darfur.
Embassies have been on high alert in the build-up to the court's decision, fearing attacks, although Sudanese authorities have promised to protect diplomatic premises.
Britain, the United States and France have been repeatedly accused by Sudanese government officials of supporting the ICC.
The U.S. embassy said its citizens should "shelter in a secure location" and the British Embassy told nationals to keep a low profile and "maintain several days' stock of food and water."
"The real question is where the crowds are going to go next," said one western diplomat as the demonstrators gathered.
Sudanese officials on Thursday confirmed they had expelled 10 foreign aid agencies and shut down two Sudanese agencies which they said had cooperated with the ICC. Sudan has accused some aid groups of passing information to the ICC prosecutor.
The agencies included Britain's Oxfam and Save The Children, US-based Care, CHF and the International Rescue Committee, together with Medecins Sans Frontiers Holland and the Norwegian Refugee Council.
"This is going to have a devastating impact on humanitarian work in Darfur," said one U.N. official, adding senior officers were still hoping to persuade Khartoum to change its mind.
