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.
on Sunday replaced his two vice presidents and unveiled a partially new cabinet after urgent calls for reform in the 24-year-old regime.
The changes come less than a week after leading ruling party dissident Ghazi Salahuddin Atabani said he had launched a new "Reform" party relying on youth support that has attracted thousands of supporters.
It is the most serious split in years within Bashir's National Congress Party (NCP), which has faced internal criticism over alleged corruption and stagnant leadership.
The "big changes" announced Sunday "were meant to bring forward experienced youth", NCP deputy chairman Nafie Ali Nafie said, according to the Sudanese Media Centre (SMC) which is close to the security apparatus.
Nafie himself is stepping down from his post as Bashir's adviser and assistant, to be replaced by senior NCP member Ibrahim Ghandour, officials said.
Other regime stalwarts who lost their jobs are top vice president Ali Osman Taha and oil minister Awad Ahmad al-Jaz.
Bakri Hassan Saleh, a former interior and defence minister, replaces Taha while Hassabo Mohammed Abdel Rahman becomes second vice president, senior party official Rabbie Abdelatti Ebaid told AFP.
"Yes, confirmed," Ebaid said of the appointments.
Saleh was presidential affairs minister in the cabinet which Bashir dismissed last week ahead of the reshuffle.
Abdel Rahman had been the NCP's political secretary.
But Defence Minister Abdelrahim Mohammed Hussein keeps his job, party officials told a presser at NCP headquarters.
Both Hussein and Bashir are wanted by The Hague-based
International Criminal Court... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ...
for alleged war crimes in Sudan's Darfur region.
Also retaining his post was Foreign Minister Ali Ahmad Karti.
A minority of cabinet members who belong to parties other than the NCP will keep their posts pending decisions by those parties, officials said.
The new vice president Saleh was a leader of the 1989 Islamist-backed coup which brought Bashir to power, Robert O. Collins wrote in "A History of Modern Sudan".
He called Saleh "an efficient and sinister defender of the revolution" who was entrusted with rebuilding the country's intelligence apparatus.
The Internal Security Bureau "demonstrated its autonomy through its extreme brutality," Collins wrote.
SMC reported that the new government was first announced by Nafie after an NCP meeting which ended at dawn.
Party officials later told news hounds that Makawi Mohammed Awad, formerly director of Sudan's railway network, becomes the new oil minister.
Finance and Economy Minister Ali Mahmud al-Rasul, who presided over the collapse of the Sudanese currency and soaring inflation, has been replaced by Badereldien Mahmoud.
He was deputy governor of the Central Bank of Sudan.