Britain, France and the US are up against a united front of African and Muslim countries, backed by China and Russia, over the imminent indictment of Sudan’s president, Omar Al Bashir, for war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Darfur.

Diplomatic sources said on Monday that a pre-trial panel of three judges at the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague was expected to authorise an arrest warrant within the next two weeks.

Bashir will be the first head of state to be charged by the ICC since it was founded in 2002.

“The court has kept its cards very close to its chest. But that’s the expectation,” a western diplomat said.

“You prepare for all eventualities and an indictment is the most difficult. But the search for peace and justice cannot be precluded by concerns over what might happen.”

The African Union (AU), the Arab League, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, and an influential UN bloc of developing nations known as the Group of 77 and China have all backed Sudan’s calls for the ICC prosecution to be dropped, with some officials arguing that it smacks of “white man’s justice”.

They say an attempt to arrest Bashir could destabilise Sudan and endanger international aid and peacekeeping missions.

An estimated 200,000 people have died and 2.7 million have been displaced since fighting erupted in Darfur in 2003.

The UN has more than 20,000 personnel in Sudan, including two peacekeeping missions, while hundreds of NGOs and aid agencies operate there.

Sudanese officials say they cannot be held responsible if the UN or foreign organisations become the focus of “public outrage” over an indictment.

Western diplomats say any decision to freeze or drop the case could destroy the credibility of the ICC and force the resignation of chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

Yet a decision to go ahead could permanently alienate African and other countries that have signed the ICC treaty.

Britain, France and the US say they are not alone in backing the ICC process.

“The Latin American countries, Japan, other European countries, they all understand and support what we are doing,” one official said.

In a unanimous statement issued at this month’s summit in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, the AU expressed “deep concern” at the impending indictment, warning it could seriously undermine efforts to end the Darfur conflict.

“If the court is allowed to go ahead, it will cause a lot of trouble for the whole Horn of Africa region. Sudan is big. It touches everyone,” said a senior diplomat from one of Sudan’s neighbours.

British and French officials and diplomats are adamant that they will not support attempts to freeze the ICC process under a UN Security Council procedure known as an Article 16 deferral.

“At this moment we’re not ready to support an initiative that would implement Article 16,” said Jean-Pierre Lacroix, France’s deputy UN ambassador. Lord Malloch-Brown, Britain’s minister for Africa, said last week that a deferral was “completely unlikely”.

The US is not a signatory to the ICC’s founding treaty but has strongly supported the case against Bashir.

It has backed two previous ICC indictments of Sudanese officials over Darfur, including charges of war crimes brought against Ahmad Muhammad Harun, a former minister of state for the interior. Neither suspect has been handed over.

The Obama administration has taken a tougher line on Sudan than its predecessors. Susan Rice, the new US ambassador to the UN, condemned “the ongoing genocide in Darfur” in her first press conference, and said efforts to support Unamid, the UN’s military mission in Darfur, were a top priority.

“Obviously we will continue to look at what is necessary to deal with any obstruction, continued violence or reprisals that may occur or may emanate as a result of a potential indictment,” she said.

She drew attention to new fighting around Muhajiriya, in southern Darfur, between government and rebel forces. UN officials and rebel spokesmen have suggested the surge in violence is part of the government’s response to the looming Bashir indictment.In a sign of growing unease over the possible fallout, Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, said he had personally urged Bashir to eschew reprisals when they met at the AU summit.

“Whatever the ICC decision may be, it will be very important for President Bashir and the Sudanese government to react very responsibly and ensure the safety and security of UN peacekeepers, protect human rights ... and faithfully implement the CPA. And he should fully cooperate with the ICC,” Ban said in a statement.

Sudanese spokesmen maintain that Bashir will never surrender to the court.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service