Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to
ArabizeDarfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it.
, wanted by the International Criminal Court
... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ...
on genocide charges.
Though Kenya has ratified the founding the ICC's founding Rome statute, it failed to arrest the Sudanese leader when he visited the country in August 2010.
Monday's high court ruling means that his arrest "should be effected by the Attorney General and the Minister for Internal Security should he ever set foot in Kenya," Judge Nicolas Ombija said.
Bashir is the subject of two arrest warrants issued by the ICC for atrocities committed in Darfur in western Sudan. The first was issued in March 2009 on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The second was issued in July 2010 on charges of genocide.
The Sudanese President in August 2010 attended a ceremony in Nairobi to mark the adopting of Kenya's new constitution.
As a signatory of the ICC's founding treaty, Kenya was theoretically obliged to arrest Bashir when he entered the country.