Warrant issued for Sudan's Bashir
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on 3 March 2009
Sudan's president has denied committing war crimes

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Sudan's president on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

Omar al-Bashir, who denies the charges, has previously said that an arrest warrant would have "no value".

Reports say Sudan's capital, Khartoum, was tense as people awaited the decision, with fears of unrest.

The UN estimates some 300,000 people have died and millions been displaced in six years of conflict in the region.

The spokeswoman for the court in The Hague, Laurence Blairon, said the court would transmit as soon as possible to the government of Sudan a request for his arrest and surrender.

She said the violence in Darfur was the result of a common plan organised at the highest level of the Sudanese government, but there was no evidence of genocide.

It is the ICC's first ever warrant issued against a sitting head of state.

ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo had requested that the court issue a warrant for Mr Bashir's arrest in July 2008.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7923102.stm