Khartoum has condemned as "criminal" plans by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to seek the arrest of Omar al-Bashir, Sudan's president, for alleged crimes in the Darfur region.

The US state department confirmed on Friday that a prosecutor at the court in The Hague would apply for a warrant on genocide and crimes against humanity charges.

"If you indict the head of state, the symbol of authority, the symbol of the dignity of the country, then it is is a serious issue for us," Abdelhaleem Abdelmahmoud, Sudan's ambassador to the United Nations, told Al Jazeera.

"We condemn this criminal move by the prosector-general. It is very disastrous to the peace process, and to the efforts between the United Nations and Sudan to deal peacefully with the problem in Darfur.

"It is a very destabilising move," he said.

In the event of an arrest warrant being issued, it will be first-ever bid before The Hague-based tribunal to charge a sitting head of state with war crimes.

Warrant request

Earlier, Sean McCormack, the US state department spokesman, told reporters: "I understand that the prosecutor intends to go before a panel of judges to present information and request for a warrant."

His remarks came after the office of Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor, said on Thursday that a new case covering "crimes committed in the whole of Darfur over the last five years" would be opened on Monday.

Sudan does not recognise the jursidiction of the ICC and has previously refused to hand over a minister and a militia leader accused of war crimes. 

Abdelmahmoud said that Sudan did not recognise the jursidiction of the ICC and called the charges "politically motivated".

"It is one of the designs by the enemies of the country to settle political scores, they tried it through sanctions, they tried it through inciting our neighbours ... so it is a process of conspiracies against our country,' he said.

Previously Khartoum has refused to hand over a government minister and a militia leader sought by the court.

Backlash feared

Publicly, the United Nations has remained quiet over the issue that could pit the demands of the UN-backed ICC against UN interests in deploying a peace force in Darfur.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general declined on Thursday to say who would be named in a new case investigating alleged crimes in Darfur, or what the consequences might be for the struggling UN-African Union force.

There are fears of a potential backlash to any move to arrest al-Bashir [AP]