Netherlands ? The International Criminal Court announces today whether it will issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges of masterminding genocide in Darfur — a move that could provoke a violent backlash.

The chief prosecutor says dozens of witnesses will testify that al-Bashir controlled a genocidal campaign aimed at wiping out three ethnic African tribes in the vast nation south of Egypt.

“We have strong evidence against Mr. Bashir,” prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo said Tuesday. “More than 30 witnesses will (testify) how he managed to control everything and we have strong evidence of his intention. I never present a case without strong evidence.”

An arrest warrant for al-Bashir would be a milestone for the world’s first permanent war crimes tribunal, which started work in 2002 and has never before ordered the arrest of a sitting head of state.