The US yesterday attacked Sudan's "reckless" expulsion of international aid groups in the wake of the decision of the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant against Omar al-Bashir, president, for alleged war crimes.

The condemnation came from Susan Rice, US envoy to the United Nations, as the Security Council met to discuss the Darfur crisis. "The government of Sudan, at its own choosing, is now heading down a path towards even greater international isolation," she said. Commenting on Khartoum's decision to order out a dozen charities operating in Darfur, Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem, Sudan's UN envoy, charged that some were guilty of fabricating information about the situation there, which had led to "polluting the atmosphere against Sudan's government".