Warrant issued for Sudan's leader

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Sudan's president on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

But the court in The Hague stopped short of accusing Omar al-Bashir of genocide. He denies the charges.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of the capital, Khartoum, after the announcement, amid fears of unrest.

The UN estimates about 300,000 people have died and millions been displaced in six years of conflict in Darfur...

Re: Warrant issued for Sudan's leader

You — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 - 21:33

Sudan's president orders all foreign aid groups to leave country within a year

Bashir steps up defiance of international community and says he wants to 'clear out spies'

The Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, has ordered all foreign aid groups to leave the country within a year, stepping up his campaign of defiance against the international community.

Bashir has already expelled 13 large aid agencies from northern Sudan, accusing them of assisting the international criminal court (ICC), which issued an arrest warrant against him for war crimes in Darfur on March 4. The organisations carried out about half the relief work in Darfur, where 4.7 million people receive aid. Three local NGOs, including one of the country's largest, were also shut down.

Addressing thousands of army and police officers who pledged allegiance to him in Khartoum's Green Square today, Bashir said Sudan needed "to clear our country of any spies".

"I ordered humanitarian affairs officials that in one year we don't want any foreign aid organisation working on the ground with our citizens and that Sudanese organisations will fulfil this role," said Bashir, who wore military uniform.

"If they want to bring in aid, they will have to leave it at the airport."

About 70 foreign aid agencies work in Sudan. Bashir did not specify whether the order covered only northern Sudan, which includes Darfur, or also related to the semi-autonomous south...