[JURIST] Deputy International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] prosecutor Fatou Bensouda [professional profile] has called on world leaders to end all support for Sudanese president and war crimes suspect Omar al-Bashir [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], according to a Monday report [text] by the Associated Press. Bashir has come under increasing international pressure to comply with the ICC's warrant for his arrest and to retract a ban on several aid agencies [JURIST reports] operating in Sudan that he imposed after the warrant was issued. Despite these calls, many African countries and the League of Arab States [official website, in Arabic] have continued to support [JURIST report] Bashir, calling on the UN Security Council to exercise its power to suspend the charges [Rome Statute text] against Bashir. Bensouda said Bashir's actions since the warrant was issued have made the humanitarian situation in the Sudan worse.

Last month, ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile] said that Bashir's decision to expel the groups demonstrates that the ICC was justified [JURIST report] in pursuing the charges against him. Bashir has also threatened to expel [JURIST report] any remaining agencies, diplomats, and peacekeepers in Sudan. Human rights and other groups have previously urged Bashir [JURIST report] to allow the agencies to remain in the country, and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights [official website] spokesman Rupert Colville has said that his office may investigate [JURIST report] whether Sudan's removal of the groups itself is a possible breach of human rights law or a war crime.