But on Wednesday, in front of tens of thousands of people packed into what appeared to be a mandatory pep rally in Darfur, the bespectacled, portly president jumped up on a desk and did a little jig. He jutted his cane. He rolled his hips. Shadows of sweat bloomed under his arms. But the crowd didn't seem to care.

"Seer, seer, al-Bashir!" they screamed. "Go, go, Mr. Bashir!"

With an international indictment looming over him on charges of genocide, al-Bashir returned to the scene of his alleged misdeeds in Darfur -- on an uncharacteristic charm offensive.

It was in El Fasher, on the same airport tarmac where al-Bashir was blessed by a hundred elders leaning on canes Wednesday morning, that rebels blew up government planes in 2003, kicking off a conflict that has claimed claimed 300,000 lives and perpetually threatens to destabilize an entire region in the heart of Africa.

Sudanese forces and government-sponsored militias swept the countryside. They burned villages and raped countless women in an effort to put down the rebellion, and the violence drove more than 2 million people off their land. The prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, has accused al-Bashir of being the "mastermind" of this entire strategy, the one with "absolute control."

When doves don't fly

But on Wednesday, al-Bashir didn't seem to be feeling too guilty. He was all about peace, development and pleasing the crowds. The minute he stepped off the plane in El Fasher, a white dove was thrust into his hands.

Al-Bashir threw the bird toward the sky. It flapped a few times but didn't really fly.

No bother. Al-Bashir beamed on and strutted down the runway.

The road show, part of a whistle-stop tour of the three biggest cities in Darfur, seems to be part of al-Bashir's attempt to head off an arrest warrant that the prosecution is seeking and judges at The Hague are considering.

The U.N. Security Council can suspend the prosecution, and some Security Council members, including China and Russia, have already voiced hesitation, saying that the case against al-Bashir is complicating peace efforts.

He admitted, which was unusual for him, that "there had been problems in Darfur and injustices."

"And we're working on them," he reassured his people.

He talked of all the wells he would drill and schools he would build and how he would reach out to rebel groups.

The whole event was carefully orchestrated, as government rallies often are in Sudan. It was harder to find an al-Bashir detractor than a patch of shade in the 110-degree heat. Everyone seemed to have gotten the memo.

"If Bashir is so bad, how could he have been president for 19 years?" asked one woman, Asia Ibrahim.