(Adds Nobel laureates on ICC paragraphs 9-11)

By Opheera McDoom

KHARTOUM, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Darfur rebels on Friday criticised a U.N. Security Council resolution linking a U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force to African concerns at a move to indict Sudan's president for war crimes.

But the rebels said it was no victory for Khartoum and urged the world body to support the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC), whose prosecutor last month sought an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the remote west.

"They should not have linked the security and the legal issues in Darfur -- this is international justice," Abdallah Harran, political secretary of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) faction led by Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur, told Reuters from Darfur.

The African Union and the Arab League have expressed their support for Sudan, saying the ICC move could threaten the peace process. Rights groups hailed the move as a blow to impunity.

Sudan and its allies had wanted the resolution on renewing the mandate of the joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force (UNAMID) also to suspend the investigation of the ICC but the compromise was the promise to discuss it.

"They haven't made a full commitment to really say that they are going to delay the court's work," said Sherif Harir from the powerful SLA Unity faction. "It's not a victory for Khartoum."

JEM's deputy chief of staff, Suleiman Sandal, told Reuters from Darfur the Security Council should regard the concern of Arab and African countries in the context of their own fears of being brought to account by international justice for crimes against their own people.

"All these countries are dictatorships and many violate human rights and commit crimes against their people," he said. "They are afraid also to be accused and go to the court."

WOMEN NOBEL LAUREATES

A delegation of women's Nobel laureates in south Sudan criticised the African Union on Friday for backing Bashir, saying it was clear the body could not deal with its own crises.

"As an African, I feel embarrassed and shocked by the action of the African Union," said Kenyan Wangari Maathai, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her work in protecting the environment.

She added that if Bashir had done nothing wrong, he had nothing to fear from appearing before the court.

The United States abstained on the resolution because of the reference to African concerns on the ICC move against Bashir, and the rebels joined rights groups in praising Washington.

The U.N. Security Council can suspend the ICC investigation for 12 months at a time if it feels it is detrimental to peace in the region. Western nations have shown reluctance to do this.

International experts estimate some 200,000 people died and 2.5 million were driven from their homes in Darfur after mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003, accusing the government of neglect, and Khartoum mobilized mostly Arab militia to quell the revolt.

Last year the ICC indicted a militia leader and a junior government minister for war crimes. Khartoum refused to hand them over. (Additional reporting by Mayen Benson in Juba) (Editing by Tim Pearce)

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