Bashir offers peace, aid in defiant Darfur tour

By Opheera McDoom

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, in a show of defiance, made his first visit to Darfur on Wednesday since the International Criminal Court prosecutor accused him of genocide and war crimes and sought his arrest.

Dancing to traditional music and chanting Islamic slogans, Bashir addressed thousands of Darfuris in the regional capital el-Fasher, his promises of development and peace drawing cheers from onlookers.

"We all know that injustices happened (here)," he said, in a speech broadcast live on state television. "But from day one we have been working to provide stability for all the people of Darfur.

"We want to send this message to the world: we are the people of peace, we want peace ... we are the only ones who can achieve peace in Darfur."

He invited Sudan's political parties, tribal leadership and all Darfur's rebel groups to join in what he called his new initiative for peace. Bashir will visit all three Darfur states in a three-day tour.

Promising more schools, universities, water projects and roads, Bashir said Darfur would also soon be connected to the national electricity grid, ending constant problems with power blackouts.

Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in the remote western region in early 2003, accusing the government of neglect. To quell the revolt, Khartoum mobilized mostly Arab militias who are accused of atrocities including widespread rape, murder and looting.

International experts estimate some 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have had to flee their homes during the Darfur conflict, sparking the world's largest humanitarian operation.

Bashir said the prosecutor's request for an ICC arrest warrant for him over Darfur was a foreign conspiracy: "They are trying to confuse us ... They want to send us right back to square one.

"But Ocampo's words will not stop us from our work," he added, referring to ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

Bashir did not visit slum-like camps in which millions of Darfuris driven from their homes reside around the major towns.

"We want Bashir to know we reject him visiting any of the camps for internally displaced people," a spokesman for Darfuris in the camps Abu Sherati told Reuters.

DIPLOMACY, NOT VIOLENCE

Bashir has reacted to the ICC move not with a violent backlash as the United Nations feared he might, but by forming a united front with opposition parties, seeking regional support and insisting he is ready for Darfur peace talks.

He has pledged to continue implementing a north-south peace deal, and signed a landmark election law hours after the ICC announcement on July 14.