In March 2009, the ICC indicts Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for orchestrating a campaign of mass violence—including murder, torture, and rape—against non-Arab ethnic groups in the Darfur region since 2003. He is the first sitting president of a nation to be indicted by the ICC. Sudan, which is not a party to the Rome Statute and does not recognize the court, does not turn him over. The African Union also rejects the warrant, arguing that the ICC has a bias against African nations, and calls on member states not to arrest Bashir if he is received in their countries. In April 2019, following months of popular protests, the Sudanese military forces Bashir to step down and arrests him, though it says it will not hand him over to the ICC. Later that year, a Sudanese court convicts Bashir of corruption and financial crimes and sentences him to two years in detention. In early 2020, Sudanese officials announce their intent to transfer Bashir to The Hague for prosecution.