Sudan's Bashir Vows No Cooperation With Court

`Our position is firm ... there will be no cooperation with the so-called International Criminal Court,` Bashir said.

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir vowed on Sunday that Sudan would never cooperate with the International Criminal Court, which last month moved to indict him for genocide and war crimes in Darfur.

Speaking to trade union leaders visiting Khartoum from Arab, African and Asian nations, Bashir criticised Western states and said the court's move was part of a neo-colonialist agenda to protect the interests of developed countries.

"Our position is firm ... there will be no cooperation with the so-called International Criminal Court," he said to cheers from supporters.

The court's chief prosecutor has said Bashir's state apparatus was directly responsible for killing at least 35,000 people in Darfur and the deaths of at least another 100,000 through hunger and disease.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo asked the court for its first arrest warrant for a sitting head of state.

Last year, the court issued two arrest warrants for a junior cabinet minister and an allied militia leader for war crimes. Khartoum refused to hand them over and has not tried them in national courts.

Regional powers have criticised the move to indict Bashir, saying it would threaten a fragile peace process in Sudan which has suffered civil turmoil since 1955. But rights groups have hailed it as a blow to impunity.

The Non-Aligned Movement, African Union and Arab League have all expressed support for Bashir, but neighbouring Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni said on Saturday the AU should take action to resolve the Darfur problem rather than condemn the indictment.

"The correct position for the AU therefore, should be to investigate ourselves," he told a news conference.

African Union officials have in the past expressed concern that the ICC's first four cases have all focused on African wars.

Bashir said Washington was committing crimes every day in Iraq and Afghanistan and should be brought to account for the atom bombs dropped in Japan during World War II.

"These colonial superpowers are waging a targeted campaign against our country," he said.

Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing central government of neglecting remote Darfur. Khartoum mobilised mostly Arab militia to quell the revolt who stand accused of a widespread campaign of rape, murder and looting.