The request by the ICC chief prosecutor for an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on 10 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur has provoked domestic, Arab and international fears that such a move would have adverse repercussions on ongoing efforts to restore peace in the war-torn Sudanese region.

Fearing violent reprisals, the United Nations began pulling out non-essential staff from Darfur on Tuesday, while Sudanese demonstrators took to the streets of Khartoum protesting the ICC prosecution's move, and governments around the world cautioned that seeking to punish Bashir threatens to destabilize the whole African-Arab country and possibly the whole region.

Privately, Arab diplomats described the decision as setting a dangerous precedent that would enable the international court to seek to hunt down any Arab or Muslim head-of-state in the region in accordance with what they see as double standards in dealing with human rights violations.

The United Nations - African Union Mission in Darfur, UNIMAD, said it was temporarily relocating non-essential peacekeeping personnel to Ethiopia and Uganda, which the Sudanese government said was unnecessary and unfortunate because Khartoum was committed to protecting the United Nations in carrying out its work.

Unrelated to the U.N. decision, eight UNIMAD peacekeepers were killed and 20 others injured in an ambush by an armed militia in North Darfur on July 8, in the deadliest attack since the United Nations assumed command of peacekeeping in the turbulent region six months ago.

The United Nations says 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million displaced since fighting broke out between pro-government forces and rebels in 2003. Sudan says 10,000 have been killed.

ICC chief prosecutor in The Hague, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, on Monday said Bashir "personally instructed" his forces to wipe out three ethnic groups. But the court's judges will examine the request to decide whether there are sufficient grounds for issuing a warrant – something that could take months.

The Sudanese president and government have brushed aside the prosecution's indictment as politically-motivated, saying the ICC has no jurisdiction over the country, because it did not ratify the treaty that established this court in 2002.

Nevertheless, Khartoum is said to be seeking the assistance of the Arab League, the African Union (AU) and its friends in the U.N. Security Council to press the ICC against issuing a warrant.

The 22-member Arab League called for an emergency meeting of its foreign ministers to discuss how to diplomatically foil the process, while the AU, the Organization of Islamic Conference and permanent Security Council members China and Russia have warned against going through with the warrant, indicating that the Security Council could be persuaded to use its authority to intervene to defer any prosecution for a year.

The AU cautioned that the indictment of Bashir would create a power vacuum that risked "military coups and widespread anarchy," while Sudan's Arab neighbor, Egypt, promised to do all it can to avert any measure against the Sudanese leader that could further destabilize the country.

China, which is one of Sudan's major investors and buyers of its oil, on Tuesday expressed deep "concern and worry," and implied the ICC should be careful not to fuel the crisis.

The ICC "should be conducive to maintaining the stability of the Sudanese situation, and to the proper resolution of the problems of Darfur, not the contrary," a Chinese government statement said.

Russia also called on Sudan and the United Nations to "exercise restraint and find solutions that will help the people of Sudan and resolve the crisis in Darfur," AFP quoted Russia's ambassador to the U.N., Vitaly Churkin, as saying.

Reports from Sudan said the main opposition parties and critics of the Bashir regime have united with the government in rejecting the decision and vowed to prevent the president from prosecution in the international court, citing a violation of the country's sovereignty and independence.

Sudanese and Arab politicians and commentators saw the move as part of the U.S.-Western political campaign targeting Arabs and Muslims, blasting what they say are double standards in applying international laws.

"Give us Bush, and we will deliver Bashir to you," challenged a headline in Algeria's Algerie-News, in reference to U.S. President George W. Bush, adding that "international justice is led astray by the West."

"The ICC is charging the Sudanese president, but what is it doing about the other crimes committed in the world carried out by the American administration in Iraq?" the paper said.

The London-based al-Quds al-Arabi said in a front-page commentary the ICC was proving it was politicized and formed precisely to target leaders who "disobey" the U.S. dictates in keeping Israel the main superpower in the Middle East.

It suggested that if the court was seeking real justice, it would also seek to try Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, as well as Israeli leaders, for war crimes against humanity and genocide in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan.

A cartoon in Jordan's independent Al-Ghad daily implied that seeking to prosecute the Sudanese leader was part of a series of toppling certain Arab leaders.

"Stay tuned for Arab Heroes, Part 2," reads the caption of the cartoon, depicting a statue of Bashir holding up his cane, similar to the statue of Saddam Hussein that was toppled in Baghdad in April 2003 with the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.