Sudan has been rocked by near-daily demonstrations over the past two weeks with protesters calling on President Omar al-Bashir
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.
who took power in 1989, to step down.
Northeast African country whose government tightly controls traditional media as the internet has become a key information battleground.
The head of Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Service, Salah Abdallah, told a news conference on Dec. 21 that: "There was a discussion in the government about blocking social media sites."
Internet users in the country say Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp have only been possible through use of a virtual private network (VPN).