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. Omar's peculiar talent lies in starting conflict. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its imminent 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.
arrived in Cairo on Tuesday, an airport source told AFP, marking the first visit to post-Mubarak Egypt by an Arab head of state.
The official Sudanese news agency SUNA said Monday that Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court
... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ...
, would meet with Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who heads the country's ruling military council.
Egypt, which is not a signatory to the ICC, has been a key ally for the Sudanese president, who has visited the country numerous times since he was indicted by the ICC for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.