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Sudan President Defies Darfur Warrant, Ejects Aid Groups
Aid groups ejected from Darfur as Bashir denounces 'colonialists'
By Jason Farago
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Posted Mar 5, 09 6:32 AM CST
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(Newser)
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A day after the International Criminal Court ordered his arrest for atrocities in Darfur, Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir vowed to defy the court and called its decision a colonial conspiracy. The New York Times reports that Sudan's government also ordered 10 international humanitarian organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, to leave the country or curb their work. "It happened right after the announcement," said one aid official. "The connection was clear."
"Sudan is raising its voice. It rejects the hegemony, the colonialists," Bashir cried at a huge rally in the capital of Khartoum. The indicted president also denounced the United States and Israel and even started dancing at the rally, waving his walking stick in the air as music blared. This is the first arrest warrant issued by the ICC, which accuses Bashir of complicity in the Darfur genocide that has left 300,000 dead and 2.5 million displaced.