KHARTOUM, Mar 5 (Reuters): Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir announced 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 Wednesday for atrocities in Sudan's western Darfur region is the first against a sitting head of state by the Hague-based ICC.
"We will act as a responsible government," Bashir told a meeting of top politicians and cabinet members in response to the arrest warrant, while adding that Sudan would act decisively against anyone threatening stability.
"We have expelled 10 foreign organisations ... after monitoring activities that act in contradiction to all regulation and laws," he said.
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 licences of several foreign aid agencies.
UN 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.
Meanwhile, China said Thursday, attempts by the International Criminal Court to arrest Sudan's leader on war crimes will only hurt efforts to bring peace and stability to the war-scarred Darfur region.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular news conference that China backed a call by African and Arab countries to have the arrest warrant dropped.
"China opposes anything that could disrupt efforts to realise peace in Darfur and in Sudan," he said. "We hope the relevant parties will take full consideration of the possible repercussions of this decision."
China, which buys two-thirds of Sudan's petroleum exports, has been repeatedly criticised for not using its economic leverage to apply more pressure on Bashir's government to end a civil war in his country's Darfur region. At least 300,000 people have been killed and 2.7 million have fled their homes in the region.
Qin said China has worked to stabilise the situation in Sudan and pointed out that Beijing has 350 peacekeepers in the country.
