In a bid to avoid being brought to justice for alleged crimes against humanity, Omar al- Bashir, the president of Sudan, is pursuing a destructive two-track strategy that not only threatens to poison relations between the West and much of the developing world, but also imperils the lives of Darfuris who have survived nearly seven years of genocidal violence.

The first strategy aims to turn parts of the developing world against the International Criminal Court (ICC), the permanent war crimes tribunal based at The Hague in the Netherlands. By portraying the court as an imperialist institution, the Sudanese government seeks to rob the ICC of political legitimacy.

"Bashir is playing into a perception, particularly in parts of Africa, that the ICC is a kind of tool (of the West)," explains John Lewis, the human rights program co-ordinator for KAIROS Canada, an ecumenical organization that engages in social justice initiatives around the globe.

Bashir's second strategy is to provoke a fresh humanitarian crisis in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region, which is largely populated by people of African ethnicity. By drastically reducing the flow of international relief to the region, the Arab regime in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, is forcing the international community to reconsider the human cost of holding him accountable for his heinous actions.

After a lengthy criminal investigation into the ongoing civil war in Darfur -- which the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates has killed 300,000 civilians and displaced 2.5 million more -- the International Criminal Court issued a warrant on March 4 for the arrest of Bashir. Wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed by Sudanese forces and government- backed militias, the Sudanese president is the first sitting world leader to be indicted by the ICC.

The government of Sudan retaliated swiftly by expelling 13 major international humanitarian organizations -- including Oxfam and Feed the Children -- from Sudan and closed down four local aid groups, accusing them of spying on behalf of the ICC. Recently, four of the expelled NGOs -- Care International, Save the Children, Mercy Corp. and Padco -- were readmitted to Darfur.

Can the relief organizations that remain in Sudan handle the additional humanitarian load? Not likely, reports Human Rights Watch; the expelled non-governmental organizations provided water and food to many thousands of Internally Displaced Persons in Darfur.

Despite the suffering caused by his policies, Bashir's gambit appears to be eroding international support for the ICC.

Some Arab and African governments openly support Bashir. The Sudanese president attended a summit of Arab states in Egypt this spring and was greeted as a respected statesman. He was also well-received during his subsequent five-nation tour of the Arab world and on a recent state visit to Zimbabwe.

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, however, isn't buying Bashir's propaganda. "Canada recognizes that the ICC is an independent judicial organization and we continue to respect its decisions," the minister wrote in an e-mail.

Human Rights Watch agrees. While it is true that four ICC investigations are currently underway in Africa, the independent human rights watchdog reports that "three of these were voluntarily referred (to the court) by African governments where the crimes were committed."

In setbacks for the ICC, the African Union and the Arab League have both recommended that the warrant for Bashir's arrest be suspended. Under Article 16 of the Statute of Rome, the international law that governs the ICC, the United Nations Security Council has the legal authority to defer an ICC warrant for a period of one year, if doing so is deemed to be in the interests of international peace and security.

But, according to a Human Rights Watch news release, shelving the ICC warrant would be a big mistake, because doing so "would reward the denial of vital assistance to vulnerable populations (in Darfur) and thereby encourage further abuses" by Khartoum.

Cannon says that Canada has consulted with Security Council members and other international partners regarding the ICC indictment. "(And) Canada has conveyed the position that the government of Sudan has not taken any action that would warrant consideration of a deferral of the court's investigations and prosecutions in Darfur pursuant to the Rome Statute."

In identical letters sent to both the African Union and the Arab League earlier this year, a group of Darfuri women, who claim to have survived a campaign of systematic sexual violence, implored each coalition to support the ICC process.

The indictment of Bashir, reads the the survivors' statement, demonstrates that "no one is above justice, and that no one can be responsible for killing and dehumanizing so many without consequences."

By actively supporting the ICC process in Darfur, Canada is championing human rights while refusing to give in to Khartoum's blackmail.

Geoffrey P. Johnston is a local writer. Read more about Darfur at www.thewhig.com.