New York/The Hague  - A panel of judges at the International Criminal Court in The Hague has decided to issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, The New York Times reported, citing court lawyers and diplomats.

The court has notified United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki- moon that a warrant will be issued, officials at UN headquarters in New York told the Times.

The warrant arises from a request in July by ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo for Bashir's arrest on allegations of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan's western Darfur region, where an ethnic conflict has raged since 2003.

The charges to be included in the warrant were not immediately reported. The arrest warrant would be the first issued by the ICC for a sitting head of state.

The African Union and Arab diplomats have warned that attempts to prosecute Bashir would complicate the Darfur peace process.

The United Nations Security Council, which referred the Darfur case to the ICC for prosecution, has the power to halt the prosecution but has refused to intervene.

An estimated 300,000 people have died in the Darfur conflict, and millions of refugees have fled. (dpa)