Battle of wills

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CHAMPIONS OF SUDANESE President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir turned out in a full show of support from the people of southern Darfur. This is the third time in as many weeks that the Sudanese leader flew to Darfur to rally support for his cause. The Sudanese leader has come under intense pressure to accept his indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Western powers, in particular, have pressurised Al-Bashir and are determined to bring him to book for crimes he allegedly committed in Darfur including murder, rape, torture, and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of the indigenous people of Darfur and for crimes against humanity and genocide.

Al-Bashir and his supporters have rejected such calls together with the ICC arrest warrant. Sudanese forces, too, demonstrated their support for President Al-Bashir during a rally by thousands of soldiers in the capital Khartoum on 16 March (right). Sudan will no longer need any international humanitarian organisations in Darfur in a year's time, the Sudanese leader assured his supporters. Sudan expelled 13 foreign NGOs from Darfur after the ICC issued an arrest warrant against Al-Bashir. United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that the expulsion of aid agencies would result in "untold misery and suffering".