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Bashir vows to defy Darfur charge | |
(20 minutes later) | |
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has angrily rejected the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against him. | Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has angrily rejected the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against him. |
Mr Bashir told cheering supporters at a protest in the capital that Sudan would not "kneel" to colonialists. | Mr Bashir told cheering supporters at a protest in the capital that Sudan would not "kneel" to colonialists. |
He said he defied outsiders to come to Sudan and talk about human rights. | He said he defied outsiders to come to Sudan and talk about human rights. |
He is accused of two counts of war crimes and five of crimes against humanity in Darfur, in the first such warrant for a serving head of state. | |
Mr Bashir told thousands of people in the city's Martyrs Square: | |
"Today Sudan is raising its voice. We are telling the colonialists we are not succumbing; we are not submitting; we will not kneel; we are targeted because we refuse to submit. | |
'Lions and tigers' | |
"We are lions and we have tigers. We will carry on rejecting colonialism." | |
He said the ICC, together with the UN Security Council and the International Monetary Fund, were trying to "colonise people anew and steal their resources". | He said the ICC, together with the UN Security Council and the International Monetary Fund, were trying to "colonise people anew and steal their resources". |
"They claim that human rights are being violated in Sudan," he said. "We defy them to come here in Sudan and show us what's happening here." | "They claim that human rights are being violated in Sudan," he said. "We defy them to come here in Sudan and show us what's happening here." |
The BBC's Owen Bennett-Jones in Khartoum says pro-Bashir supporters, some in cars with loud-speakers, shouted slogans denouncing the West. | |
The UN estimates that 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million displaced during the fighting in Darfur. | |
The ICC on Wednesday accused Mr Bashir of responsibility for a campaign of extermination, rape and pillage during the six-year conflict. | |
The tribunal rejected a further allegation of genocide, saying there was insufficient evidence. | |
Sudan reacted by reaffirming it had no intention of co-operating with the ICC and promptly expelling 10 foreign aid agencies. | |
The US and EU welcomed the ICC decision, but some Arab and African nations said it would hinder Darfur peace efforts and called for the case to be suspended. | |
China, which buys much of Sudan's oil, also urged the ICC to postpone the case, warning it risked destabilising Darfur. |