Sudan’s president gains support of Iranian leaders, others

Khartoum, Sudan —- Senior leaders of Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah offered international support Friday to Sudan’s president after he was charged with war crimes in Darfur, a sign that the bid to prosecute him could sharply radicalize his regime.

For a third straight day, President Omar al-Bashir’s supporters marched and vowed to defend him against what his government called a “colonial” conspiracy to overthrow him. Hundreds emerged from mosques after Friday prayers, chanting “jihad,” or holy war, and shouting, “With our souls and blood, we will sacrifice ourselves for you, al-Bashir.”

After the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant Wednesday for al-Bashir, Sudan’s government responded by expelling 13 of the largest aid organizations in Darfur.

The U.N. human rights office said in Geneva that it was examining whether the expulsion could itself constitute a war crime.

The order opened a giant hole in the safety net that has kept many Darfur civilians alive during six years of war in the vast, arid region of western Sudan. Without the groups, 1.1 million people will be without food, 1.5 million without health care, and more than 1 million without drinking water —- and outbreaks of infectious disease are a greater danger, the U.N. said.

“To punish civilians because of a decision by the ICC is a grievous dereliction of the government’s duty to protect its own people,” said the U.N. spokesman, Rupert Colville.

U.S. State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid urged Khartoum to allow the workers back.

The quick show of support from Iran and Middle East militant groups underscores the political risk from the warrant: that al-Bashir could turn to a deeper alliance with the region’s hard-line, anti-West bloc. If he does, he could become more resistant to any compromise with the West and take a harder line at home.

Jennifer Cooke, head of the Africa program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the Western reaction “may drive al-Bashir further to the hard-line radicals.”

“He is framing the ICC’s decision as yet another Western attempt to undermine the sovereignty of a Muslim developing state,” she said. “And realizing he can rally support, whether from the Arab League or more radical elements, and possibly the [African Union], it gives him less incentive to move back on his decisions.”