African leaders are to decide whether to suspend cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

African Union (AU) foreign ministers voted Thursday to suspend cooperation with the ICC over its indictment of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al Bashir. They say the warrant compromises peace efforts in Darfur.

African officials said the surprise new draft was circulated by Libya, which is hosting the 13th AU summit of heads of state in Tripoli.

The draft resolution says the African Union "deeply regrets" that the United Nations ignored its previous demand for the ICC to postpone the arrest warrant against al Bashir.

Therefore, it says, AU countries "shall not cooperate" with the ICC "for the arrest and surrender of African indicted personalities."

The resolution still has to be approved by AU heads of state before taking effect. If adopted, the common ruling could be a powerful blow to the prosecution of African officials for war crimes.

However, there did not appear to be a consensus among African leaders at the summit about supporting the draft.

New York-based campaign group Human Rights Watch said that if the AU approved the draft resolution, the 30 African states who have signed up to the ICC would be in violation of their legal obligations.

"Basically this would ... give a free pass to Omar al Bashir to traipse freely around the continent," said Reed Brody, legal counsel for Human Rights Watch.

Libya was one the first countries to ignore the ICC and host al Bashir, despite the international warrant against him issued in March.

The Sudanese president is accused by the ICC of war crimes and crimes against humanity for masterminding violence that has led to the death of some 300,000 people in Darfur since 2003.