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.
and his southern counterpart after fresh border festivities.
"The government announced that it suspended Bashir's visit to Juba after the South Sudanese army attacked (the oil-rich territory of) Heglig," state radio reported early Tuesday. The two leaders had been due to meet on April 3.
Comments by the South's leader Salva Kiir that his troops had taken the northern oil centre "reflected extreme hatred to Sudan," said Information Minister Abdullah Ali Massar, the official SUNA news agency reported.
South Sudan had engaged in "deceptive and misleading acts" when it signed accords with Khartoum at 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...
-led talks in Ethiopia, and when last week it invited Bashir to the summit, said Massar.