A coalition of human rights groups in Africa urged governments to cooperate with the International Criminal Court in the arrest of the president of Sudan.

The statement was released by Human Rights Watch. The African Union decided in a summit meeting at the beginning of the month that it would not enforce an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir on war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region.

"The AU's decision that states should not cooperate with the ICC threatens to block justice for victims of the worst crimes committed on the continent," said James Gondi of the Eastern Africa International Criminal Justice Initiative in Nairobi.

The statement was signed by more than 130 human rights and civil society organizations in African countries, Human Rights Watch said.