Sudan's President Defies Arrest Warrant

Speaking publicly for the first time since the warrant was issued, Mr al-Bashir told a meeting of his Cabinet that the court, the UN and the aid organisations were colluding to take control of the country and steal its vast oil reserves.

“We are ready to resist colonialism,” Mr al-Bashir told crowds of roaring supporters at a rally in Khartoum, dancing and jabbing his cane in the air as he spoke. “We are ready to defend our religion.”

The ten agencies account 70 per cent of the humanitarian aid delivered to displaced people in camps in Darfur in the form of food, shelter, clean water and medicine. Mercy Corps called the decision a “devastating blow” for the people of Darfur while Save the Children UK warned that the lives of thousands of children were now at risk.

Oxfam GB said it had joined forces with other agencies to appeal the government’s decision. United Nations officials began emergency negotiations to strike a deal allowing the agencies to continue their operations.

“We’ll do whatever we can to stay,” Ian Bray, an Oxfam spokesperson, said.

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, added his voice for those calling for Khartoum to back down. “We are very concerned by any threat to stability or the even greater threat to human existence inside Sudan,” he said in Brussels.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the expulsion order against aid groups "a serious setback to lifesaving operations in Darfur." The aid groups, which included Oxfam, CARE and Save the Children, protested that they had nothing to do with the Netherlands-based ICC's decision Wednesday.