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.
will travel Thursday to the capital of war-torn South Sudan to push peace efforts in a regional summit, the official SUNA news agency said on Monday.
The invitation came from Æthiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, chairman of the seven-member Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an East African bloc mediating the South Sudanese conflict.
Bashir "will head Sudan's delegation at the IGAD summit," SUNA reported.
"The summit will discuss the crisis in South Sudan."
It will be Bashir's second peace mission to the southern capital Juba since fighting began in mid-December.
Britannia last week commended the "balanced role" Khartoum has played in support of the IGAD-led talks.
Thousands have been killed and half a million civilians have been forced to flee because of the fighting between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and rebels allied with his sacked deputy Riek Machar.
African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
Commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma on Monday flew to Juba to meet Kiir in a bid to help broker a peace deal.