On Tuesday the U.S. Embassy in Sudan authorized nonessential staff and family to leave the country, citing that protests against the International Criminal Court's indictment of the Sudanese president could increase the danger of anti-Western violence.

Earlier Sudan's government expelled aid groups from Darfur accusing them of cooperating with the war crimes court, which President Omar al-Bashir has described as a new form of colonialism.

According to the embassy, it has received information on terrorist threats aimed at American and European interests in Sudan. No details were given by the embassy, however similar messages in the past have been posted, the Associated Press reported.

Both the United States and the U.N. have sharply criticized Sudan's decision to expel 13 of the largest Darfur aid groups in response to last week's ICC arrest warrant for al-Bashir charging him with war crimes in the war-ravaged western region.

The charges have been rejected by Al-Bashir and he has threatened to expel diplomats and peacekeepers.

Recent protests have featured sharp anti-Western rhetoric. There is a continuing possibility that ongoing protests may encourage violent action against Europeans and Americans, a message posted on the U.E. Embassy's Web site said, Associated Press reported.

Al-Bashir has been accused of leading a counterinsurgency campaign against Darfur rebels that involved rapes, killings and other atrocities against civilians. Up to 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million driven from their homes in the conflict since 2003, the U.N. says.

President Barack Obama declared Tuesday that the violence in Darfur and inaction in the face of its worsening humanitarian crisis are not acceptable.

Sudan