Nairobi/Addis Ababa  - African Union foreign ministers Monday expressed their backing for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in his confrontation with the International Criminal Court.

ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has asked the court in The Hague to issue an arrest warrant for al-Bashir on suspicion of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity over events in Darfur.

Meeting at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, the foreign ministers Monday demanded that the ICC drop the call for Bashir's arrest, warning that it would only harm the peace process in Sudan.

The call followed an announcement Saturday by the Arab League that its foreign ministers had agreed a plan to defuse the crisis between Sudan and the ICC. Details would be revealed in the next days.

Speaking after the Cairo meeting, the league's Secretary-General Amr Mussa had said a plan was agreed to solve a crisis that "could be really destabilizing."

The ICC prosecutor accused al-Bashir of waging a campaign of genocide against three Darfur tribes, which has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands and displaced about 2.5 million people from their homes in the western Sudanese province.

The ICC is expected to rule in October or November whether to issue the warrant. (dpa)