It is unlikely that last week's decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to indict Mr. Omar al-Bashir, the president of Sudan, on charges of war crimes has cost Mr. Bashir much sleep. The ICC cannot enforce the writ on its own, and Mr. Bashir has allies and friends around the world.
Still, Mr. Bashir's reaction to the decision shows that the court's assessment of his behavior is correct. More important, it is a critical decision that sets a historical precedent and reinforces the rule of idea that no one is above the law.
Rebels in the Darfur region of western Sudan have been fighting the government in Khartoum since 2003, claiming that they have been discriminated against and their lands exploited. That fight has pitted non-Arab groups of Darfur against the Arab-dominated government and vicious militias that it uses as proxies. International human rights groups estimate that at least 200,000 people have been killed in the fighting, and as many as 2.5 million more forced from their homes. The Sudanese government denies that it is using violent tactics or proxies, and it estimates the number of dead at "just" 10,000.