The issuing of an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court (ICC) is a politicized move and will not help peace in Sudan, a top UN official said on Thursday.

"It's a politicized, a political decision. I think it doesn't help in the least," said UN General Assembly President Miguel d' Escoto Brockmann.

"I think it is really a sad thing ... I'm sorry about this decision by the ICC," Brockmann told a press conference in Geneva.

The Hague-based ICC on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant against the Sudanese president for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the country's restive western region of Darfur between 2003 and 2008.

Brockmann, a Nicaraguan diplomat, said the ICC's move was taken "in spite of the plea of the African Union and the Arab League to give peace a chance in Sudan."

"I am very concerned about the political manipulation of justice, and I'm concerned because this does not help the cause of peace," Brockmann said.

To really solve the problems in Sudan, the international community "must allow the ongoing peace negotiations to continue, to give peace a chance, as was the message brought by the African Union and the Arab League to the UN Security Council only two weeks ago," he stressed.

(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2009)