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.
from leaving the country.
Because heads of state don't get arrested. Bashir is loathsome, but arresting him would set a precedent. The next guy arrested will be not quite as loathsome, and the one after and so on. Eventually you end up with heads of state somebody's got a grouch for getting tossed in the clink. Remember Bertrand Russell's Vietnam "tribunal," and the dipsy doodles who wanted to "arrest" G.W. Bush for "war crimes" in Iraq.
Bashir flew out of South Africa on Monday, before the end of the African leaders summit, despite an earlier ruling blocking him from leaving.
A court Monday ordered the government to disclose why he was allowed to leave, in a ruling criticised the authorities action as not consistent with the constitution.
Bashir, who is wanted by the
International Criminal Court... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ...
(ICC) for genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur, arrived in South Africa on Saturday to attend the 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...
summit, prompting a court bid by a rights group to have him locked away
I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece!
.