President al-Bashir Warrant: The Aftermath

Now I have no issue the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague wanting to hold Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir to account for the atrocities in Darfur. However, this issuing of this warrant yesterday when a sitting President has immediate ramifications, which is probably why no reigning head of state has previously be called a war criminal.

The fact is that his response was to expel 10 Aid Agencies (Médecins Sans Frontières, Oxfam, CARE, Mercy Corps, Save the Children, the Norweigan Refugee Council, the International Rescue Committee, Action Contre la Faim, Solidarites, and CHF International) should hardly come as a surprise. It only adds to the misery of refugees and oppressed from and in the Darfur region.

Penny Lawrence the International Director of Oxfam said:

"It will affect more than 600,000 Sudanese people whom we provide with vital humanitarian and development aid, including clean water and sanitation on a daily basis."

In total 2.5 million Darfuris have fled their villages in the six years of the current ongoing civil war either to elsewhere in Sudan or over the border. However, without Sudan or many of its allies being a signatory of the Rome Statute ratifying the ICC's powers there is little immediate hope of President al-Bashir being handed over to the court any time so.

The only people that will be directly affected, at least for now, by the move are actually those he has already put through a lot of suffering.