KHARTOUM (AFP) - Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir lashed out at the West on Thursday over the arrest warrant which has split the world community and sparked fears of insecurity and a humanitarian crisis in Darfur. Sudan reacted swiftly to the International Criminal Court decision to seek Bashir's arrest for war crimes and crimes against humanity by ordering the expulsion of 10 foreign relief agencies, a move that could threaten aid to several hundred thousand vulnerable people. Sudan's allies including a string of African and Arab states and China called for the suspension of the ICC warrant, warning it could undermine efforts to end the six-year conflict in Darfur. Khartoum has vowed it will not cooperate with The Hague-based court, which accuses Bashir of masterminding a campaign of extermination, rape and pillage in Darfur, one of the remotest areas on the planet. Bashir remained defiant on Thursday as thousands of angry Sudanese staged mass demonstration in Khartoum, some setting ablaze American and Israeli flags and effigies of ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo. "The true criminals are the leaders of the United States and Europe," Bashir said, charging that bodies such as the ICC were instruments of "neo-colonialism." US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the European Union said Beshir must face justice, but analysts say there is little prospect of him being hauled before the court with world powers deeply divided over the warrant. "President Beshir will have a chance to have his day in court if he believes that the indictment is wrongly charged. He can certainly contest it," Clinton said. But calls mounted among Khartoum's allies for the warrant to suspended, including energy-hungry China, which supplies military aid to Beshir's government and relies on Sudan for oil imports. The African Union said after an emergency meeting in Addis Ababa it would send a delegation to the UN to try to halt the warrant "to give a chance for peace in Sudan." UN General Assembly president Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann on Thursday said he regretted that a warrant had been issued to arrest Sudan's president, saying the move was absurd and politically-motivated. "I am sorry about this decision of the ICC (International Criminal Court) and I think it's a more a decision motivated by political considerations than really for the sake of advancing the cause of justice in the world," said the Nicaraguan diplomat, a former foreign minister. Brockmann said the prosecution against President Omar al-Bashir should have been delayed, as called for by the African Union and the Arab League, in order to allow peace talks to make progress. "A few people with a very dubious past and with very little credibility pretend to know better than the whole African Union. This is absurd and really not an adequate way to deal with this issue," he said. Meanwhile, the Organisation of Islamic Conference condemned the International Criminal Court's decision to issue an arrest warrant for Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes in the war-ravaged province of Darfur. The Secretary-General of the Jeddah-based organisation Ekmeleddine Ihsanoglu said in a press statement late on Wednesday that such a decision might negatively impact ongoing efforts to solve the crisis in Darfur and could threaten stablity in Sudan and the whole region. Britain, France, Germany and the European Union have all urged Sudan to fully cooperate with the warrant. The EU highlighted the ICC's "key role in the promotion of international justice." Meanwhile, Sudan called on African Union states to withdraw from the International Criminal Court in protest at President Omar al-Bashir's arrest warrant for war crimes in Darfur. At an emergency meeting of the bloc, Khartoum's ambassador to the AU called on "friendly member states to withdraw from the Rome Statute" that established the world's first permanent war crimes court. Mohieldin Ahmed Salim urged the AU's Peace and Security Council meeting to "issue a clear decision in the strongest terms to reject the ICC decision." The 53-member body had called on the court to defer any action it was contemplating against Bashir, and on Wednesday it expressed concern at the decision to issue the warrant. Security has also been beefed up around foreign embassies amid fears of reprisals and expatriates have been urged to avoid public places. Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha warned the warrant could embolden rebels to attack and government security forces are reported to have beefed up their presence in Darfur. "The decision of the ICC gives a negative message to the Darfur rebels that the government is under pressure so that they continue in their military operations," he said. The Sudanese army broadcast a stark warning on state radio against anyone trying to exploit the court decision and world leaders have called for restraint. The Justice and Equality Movement, the most active Darfur rebel group which last month sign a deal with Khartoum to pave the way for broader peace talks, said it would not longer negotiate and that it was time to "get rid of Bashir".