U.N. ups security for Khartoum ICC protest

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - The United Nations urged hundreds of staff to stay at home on Tuesday as crowds of Sudanese protested against war crimes charges leveled against their president by an international prosecutor.

The International Criminal Court's (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo on Monday sought an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

Protests since Sunday have been staged by pro-government bodies but even Sudanese who traditionally oppose Bashir have backed him against The Hague-based ICC.

Tuesday's protest was small. A few thousand from Bashir's dominant National Congress Party met outside U.N. offices downtown, some on horses, shouting "Ocampo is a criminal".

Badreddin Hussein, 25, said: "We came out for this march to support Bashir and we reject Ocampo's court -- he is a traitor."

No senior officials attended the demonstration. The protesters handed a memo to the United Nations calling on it to stop the arrest warrant and saying Ocampo was a "Zionist agent".

U.N. security officials had earlier told non-essential staff to stay at home ahead of the protests.

Sudan's Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha called the ICC move "irresponsible, illegal and unprofessional," saying the charge was part of a conspiracy to prevent Sudan from being a normal member of the international community.

African Union Peace and Security Commissioner Ramtane Lamamra traveled overnight to Sudan and met Bashir on Tuesday.

He said Sudan had requested an emergency foreign ministers meeting of the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC), which he expected would take place before the end of the week.

Asked about the ICC charge, he told reporters: "The targeting of African officials is unacceptable."

AU officials have expressed concern that the ICC's first four cases have only targeted African conflicts.

A group was formed on the social networking site Facebook to support Bashir after the ICC announcement and within a few hours it had attracted almost 1,000 Sudanese at home and abroad.

Sudan's government has reassured international workers it will ensure their safety, but the United Nations raised security levels in Khartoum and Darfur ahead of the Hague court's announcement, fearing a violent backlash.

Families were evacuated from Khartoum and non-essential staff moved out of Darfur. So far their fears have not materialized.

Many aid agencies said they had pulled staff from rural areas back to towns in Darfur. U.N. spokesman Brian Kelly said life-saving activities were continuing in the world's largest humanitarian operation.

The joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping mission said it would relocate 200 non-essential staff on Tuesday primarily to Uganda or Ethiopia, although core operations would continue.

(Additional reporting by Khaled Abdelaziz; Editing by Giles Elgood)