First came the armoured personnel carriers, soldiers hanging from gun turrets and door handles. Then came the “technicals” — pick-up trucks converted into battlewagons and armed with heavy machine-guns and anti-aircraft guns.

And behind them were the trucks crammed with soldiers wearing balaclavas or scarves wrapped around their faces — all shouting Allahu Akhbar, “God is Great”.

It was a chilling display of Sudan’s war machine, a deadly arsenal that has killed, raped and burned its way across Darfur’s sun-scorched land.

The message to the people of El Fasher, the dusty capital of North Darfur, was clear. Even as the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest, President Omar al-Bashir had his finger on the trigger.

“This is to show that the Government is still in control of the town and if any of the rebel movements think they can try something then they should think again,” said Elesail Abdul Munim, a bystander as more than 150 military trucks sped past a growing crowd in the town’s market.

Tyres screeched and soldiers whooped, waving AK-47s in the air.

Just as their engines faded, the boom of air force jets ripped through the air. Two Chinese-built Sukhoi ground-attack aircraft passed low and fast over the town, almost brushing the twin minarets of El Fasher’s central mosque.

The show of strength was followed by a show of rhetoric later in the day. About 2,000 people assembled in the town centre for a carefully-choreographed demonstration. People arrived in government mini-buses ready to spew out hatred directed against Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, and America.

The speakers were greeted with cries of “Jihad, Jihad, Jihad”. Dirdiri Mohamed Ahmed, head of the town’s police, promised to mobilise against anyone trying to enforce the ICC’s arrest warrant.

“We are ready to set up camps to train our youths to defend our country against America and the enemies of Islam,” he said to an audience of raised fists. “We are with you President Bashir and are ready to die for you.”

Even the women’s representatives who took to the rickety podium promised to lay down their lives. “We are women, we have suffered from the war in Darfur, which has made orphans and widows,” said Mariam Mohamed al Bedou. “Now we will not let anyone come here who is against our president. We will defend him with our blood.”

Security officers carefully monitored the pro-Government demonstration, checking journalists’ notebooks and shadowing foreigners. “Not everyone agrees with what is being said,” said one bystander. “If we say anything else, though, we will be sent to prison.”

In Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, banner-waving crowds massed on the banks of the Nile, chanting, “We love you President Bashir,” and trampling on portraits of Mr Moreno-Ocampo.

The show of defiance allows the Government to cite public anger with the ICC as it fights the allegations but keeps its options open. Diplomats in Khartoum say it will take weeks if not months to see how the regime reacts, whether it tries to clean up its act or glories in its status of pariah.

Thousands of refugees crowded into shanty towns braced themselves for the wrath of the Sudanese Government. Amid fears of unrest, the Sudanese authorities put them off-limits yesterday. Aid agencies spent the morning in discussions with the wali, or governor, of El Fasher, trying to ensure their activities would not be disrupted.

Shortly after the indictment was issued in The Hague, the Sudanese authorities retaliated by expelling 10 leading international aid oragisations. “We are caught in this arm wrestling between Sudan and the ICC,” said Thierry Durand, director of operations for the French branch of Médecins Sans Frontières.

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