Omar al-Bashir - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

"Al-Bashir" redirects here. This may also refer to an adversary in the video game Battlefield 3

Battlefield 3

Battlefield 3 is a first-person shooter video game developed by EA Digital Illusions CE and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released in North America on October 25, 2011 and in Europe on October 28, 2011 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and EA Mobile confirmed a port for...

Lieutenant General

Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....

Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir is the current President of Sudan

Sudan

Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...

and the head of the National Congress Party

National Congress (Sudan)

The National Congress or National Congress Party ' is the governing official political party of Sudan. It is headed by Omar al-Bashir, who has been President of Sudan since he seized power in a military coup on 30 June 1989, and began institutionalizing Sharia law at a national level...

. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier

Brigadier

Brigadier is a senior military rank, the meaning of which is somewhat different in different military services. The brigadier rank is generally superior to the rank of colonel, and subordinate to major general....

in the Sudanese army

Military of Sudan

The Sudanese Armed Forces numbers, according to 2007 IISS estimates, 104,800 members supported by 17,500 paramilitary personnel.It comprises Land Forces, a Navy, an Air Force, and the Popular Defence Force. It has also formed Joint Integrated Units with its rebel enemies the Sudan People's...

, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup

Coup d'état

A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...

that ousted the government of Prime Minister

Prime minister of Sudan

-List of heads of government of Sudan:-Affiliations:*UNF - United National Front*NUP - National Unionist Party*DUP - Democratic Unionist Party...

Sadiq al-Mahdi

Sadiq al-Mahdi is a Sudanese political and religious figure...

.

In October 2004, al-Bashir's government negotiated an end to the Second Sudanese Civil War

Second Sudanese Civil War

The Second Sudanese Civil War started in 1983, although it was largely a continuation of the First Sudanese Civil War of 1955 to 1972. Although it originated in southern Sudan, the civil war spread to the Nuba mountains and Blue Nile by the end of the 1980s....

, one of the longest-running and deadliest wars of the 20th century, by granting limited autonomy to Southern Sudan dominated by the Sudan People's Liberation Army

Sudan People's Liberation Army

The Sudan People's Liberation Movement is a political party in South Sudan. It was initially founded as a rebel political movement with a military wing known as the Sudan People's Liberation Army estimated at 180,000 soldiers. The SPLM fought in the Second Sudanese Civil War against the Sudanese...

(SPLA). Since then, however, there has been a violent conflict in Darfur

War in Darfur

The Darfur Conflict was a guerrilla conflict or civil war centered on the Darfur region of Sudan. It began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and Justice and Equality Movement groups in Darfur took up arms, accusing the Sudanese government of oppressing non-Arab Sudanese in...

that has resulted in death tolls between 200,000 and 400,000. During his presidency, there have been several violent struggles between the Janjaweed

Janjaweed

The Janjaweed is a blanket term used to describe mostly gunmen in Darfur, western Sudan, and now eastern Chad...

militia and rebel groups such the Sudanese Liberation Army

Sudan Liberation Movement/Army

The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army or is a Sudanese rebel group...

(SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement

Justice and Equality Movement

The Justice and Equality Movement is a rebel group involved in the Darfur conflict of Sudan, led by Khalil Ibrahim. Along with other rebel groups, such as the Sudan Liberation Movement , they are fighting against the Sudanese Government, including the government's proxy militia, the Janjaweed...

(JEM) in the form of guerrilla warfare

Guerrilla warfare

Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...

in the Darfur region. The civil war has resulted in over people being displaced

Displaced person

A displaced person is a person who has been forced to leave his or her native place, a phenomenon known as forced migration.- Origin of term :...

, and the diplomatic relations between Sudan and Chad

Chad

Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...

being at a crisis level.

Al-Bashir is a controversial figure both in Sudan and worldwide. In July 2008, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court

International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .It came into being on 1 July 2002—the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the...

(ICC), Luis Moreno Ocampo

Luis Moreno Ocampo

José Luis Moreno OcampoMoreno Ocampo's surnames are often hyphenated in English-language media to distinguish Moreno as a surname, rather than a given name. is an Argentine lawyer who has been the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court since June 16, 2003...

, accused al-Bashir of genocide

Genocide

Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...

, crimes against humanity and war crime

War crime

War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...

s in Darfur

Darfur

Darfur is a region in western Sudan. An independent sultanate for several hundred years, it was incorporated into Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1916. The region is divided into three federal states: West Darfur, South Darfur, and North Darfur...

. The court issued an arrest warrant

Arrest warrant

An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by and on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual.-Canada:Arrest warrants are issued by a judge or justice of the peace under the Criminal Code of Canada....

for al-Bashir on 2009 on counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, but ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him for genocide. However, on 12 July 2010, after a lengthy appeal by the prosecution, the Court held that there was indeed sufficient evidence for charges of genocide to be brought and issued a second warrant containing three separate counts. The new warrant, as with the first, will be delivered to the Sudanese government

Politics of Sudan

Officially, the politics of Sudan takes place in the framework of a presidential representative democratic consociationalist republic, where the President of Sudan is Head of State, Head of Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces in a multi-party system...

, which is unlikely to execute it. Al-Bashir is the first sitting head of state

Head of State

A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...

ever indicted by the ICC as well as the first to be charged with genocide

Genocide

. The court's decision is opposed by the African Union

African Union

The African Union is a union consisting of 54 African states. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established on 9 July 2002, the AU was formed as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity...

, League of Arab States

Arab League

The Arab League , officially called the League of Arab States , is a regional organisation of Arab states in North and Northeast Africa, and Southwest Asia . It was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945 with six members: Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan , Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Yemen joined as a...

, Non-Aligned Movement

Non-Aligned Movement

The Non-Aligned Movement is a group of states considering themselves not aligned formally with or against any major power bloc. As of 2011, the movement had 120 members and 17 observer countries...

, and the governments of Russia and the People's Republic of China. The latest leak from WikiLeaks allegedly reveals that the Sudanese president had embezzled state funds amounting to US$ 9 billion. This is justified by the International Criminal Court

International Criminal Court

prosecutor who said it has evidence of corruption.

Early and family life

Al-Bashir was born in Hosh Bannaga

Hosh Bannaga

Hosh Bannaga, 150 kilometres north of the capital Khartoum, is located in the outskirts of Shendi in the River Nile state. It is the birthplace of the current Sudanese president Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir....

, just north of the capital, Khartoum

Khartoum

Khartoum is the capital and largest city of Sudan and of Khartoum State. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile flowing north from Lake Victoria, and the Blue Nile flowing west from Ethiopia. The location where the two Niles meet is known as "al-Mogran"...

. He comes from Al-Bedairya Al-Dahmashya, a clan of the larger ja'alin

Ja'Alin

Ja'alin are an Arab, Semitic tribe. They formerly occupied the country on both banks of the Nile from Khartoum to Abu Hamad. They trace their lineage to Abbas, uncle of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. They are of Arab origin, but now of mixed blood mostly with upper Egyptians and nubians. They...

tribe, a Arab

Arab

Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

tribe of hashimite in north of Sudan, then part of the Kingdom of Egypt and Sudan

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan referred to the manner by which Sudan was administered between 1899 and 1956, when it was a condominium of Egypt and the United Kingdom.-Union with Egypt:...

. He received his primary education there, and his family later moved to Khartoum where he completed his secondary education. Al-Bashir is married to his cousin Fatima Khalid. He also has a second wife named Widad Babiker Omer, who had a number of children with her first husband Ibrahim Shamsaddin, a member of the Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation

Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation

The Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation was the authority by which the military government of Sudan under Lt. Gen. Omar al-Bashir exercised power.The RCC came to power following the June 1989 coup....

who had died in a helicopter crash. Al-Bashir does not have any children of his own..

Military career

He joined the Sudanese Army in 1960. Al-Bashir studied at the Egyptian Military Academy in Cairo

Cairo

Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

and also graduated from the Sudan Military Academy in Khartoum in 1966. He quickly rose through the ranks and became a paratroop officer

Paratrooper

Paratroopers are soldiers trained in parachuting and generally operate as part of an airborne force.Paratroopers are used for tactical advantage as they can be inserted into the battlefield from the air, thereby allowing them to be positioned in areas not accessible by land...

. Later, al-Bashir served in the Egyptian Army

Egyptian Army

The Egyptian Army is the largest service branch within the Egyptian Armed Forces and holds power in the current Egyptian government. It is estimated to number around 379,000, in addition to 479,000 reservists for a total of 858,000 strong. The modern army was created in the 1820s, and during the...

during the Yom Kippur War

Yom Kippur War

The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...

in 1973 against Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

.

In 1975, al-Bashir was sent to the United Arab Emirates

United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...

as the Sudanese military attaché

Military attaché

A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission . This post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer who retains the commission while serving in an embassy...

. After his return home al-Bashir was made a garrison commander. In 1981 al-Bashir return to his paratroop background when he became the commander of an armoured parachute brigade.

Governance

On 16 October 1993, al-Bashir's powers increased when he appointed himself President of the country, after which he disbanded the Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation

Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation

and all other rival political parties. The executive and legislative powers of the council were later given to al-Bashir completely. In the early 1990s, al-Bashir's administration gave the green light to float a new currency

Currency

In economics, currency refers to a generally accepted medium of exchange. These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...

called Sudanese Dinar

Sudanese dinar

The dinar was the currency of Sudan between June 8, 1992 and January 10, 2007. Its ISO 4217 code is "SDD". It is now replaced by the pound.-History:...

to replace the battered old Sudanese Pound that had lost 90 percent of its worth during the turbulent 1980s. He was later elected president (with a five-year term) in the 1996 national election, where he was the only candidate by law to run for election and Hassan al-Turabi

Hassan al-Turabi

Dr. Hassan 'Abd Allah al-Turabi , commonly called Hassan al-Turabi , is a religious and Islamist political leader in Sudan, who may have been instrumental in institutionalizing sharia in the northern part of the...

was elected to a seat in the National Assembly where he served as speaker of the National Assembly "during the 1990s." In 1998, al-Bashir and the Presidential Committee put into effect a new constitution, allowing limited political associations in opposition to al-Bashir's National Congress Party

National Congress (Sudan)

and his supporters to be formed, although these groups failed to gain any significant access to governmental power until the Darfur conflict

War in Darfur

became a subject. On 1999, al-Bashir sent troops and tanks against parliament and ousted Hassan al-Turabi

Hassan al-Turabi

, the speaker of parliament, in a palace coup. However, despite receiving international criticism regarding internal conflicts, Omar al-Bashir has managed to achieve economic growth

Economic growth

In economics, economic growth is defined as the increasing capacity of the economy to satisfy the wants of goods and services of the members of society. Economic growth is enabled by increases in productivity, which lowers the inputs for a given amount of output. Lowered costs increase demand...

in Sudan. This is partly because of the drilling and trading with oil

Oil

An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....

from Southern Sudan.

Tensions with al-Turabi

In the mid-1990s, a feud between al-Bashir and al-Turabi began, mostly due to al-Turabi's links to Islamic fundamentalist

Islamic fundamentalism

Islamic fundamentalism is a term used to describe religious ideologies seen as advocating a return to the "fundamentals" of Islam: the Quran and the Sunnah. Definitions of the term vary. According to Christine L...

groups, as well as allowing them to operate out of Sudan, even personally inviting Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...

to the country.

The United States had listed Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism since 1993, mostly due to al-Bashir and Hassan al-Turabi taking complete power in the early 1990s. U.S. firms have been barred from doing business in Sudan since 1997. In 1998, the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory

Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory

The Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum North, Sudan, was constructed between 1992 and 1996 with components imported from the United States, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, India, and Thailand....

in Khartoum

Khartoum

was destroyed by a U.S. cruise missile

Cruise missile

A cruise missile is a guided missile that carries an explosive payload and is propelled, usually by a jet engine, towards a land-based or sea-based target. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhead over long distances with high accuracy...

strike because of its alleged production of chemical weapons and links to al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...

. However the U.S. State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research wrote a report in 1999 questioning the attack on the factory, suggesting that the connection to bin Laden was not accurate; James Risen reported in the New York Times: "Now, the analysts renewed their doubts and told Assistant Secretary of State Phyllis Oakley that the C.I.A.'s evidence on which the attack was based was inadequate. Ms. Oakley asked them to double-check; perhaps there was some intelligence they had not yet seen. The answer came back quickly: There was no additional evidence. Ms. Oakley called a meeting of key aides and a consensus emerged: Contrary to what the Administration was saying, the case tying Al Shifa to Mr. bin Laden or to chemical weapons was weak."

After being re-elected President of Sudan with a five-year-term in the 1996 election with 75.7 percent of the votes, al-Bashir issued the registration of legalised political parties in 1999 after being influenced by al-Turabi. Rival parties such as the Liberal Democrats of Sudan

Liberal Democrats (Sudan)

The Liberal Democrats is a political party in Sudan.At the last legislative elections, December 2000, the party won one seat. At the presidential elections of the same moment, its candidate Dr. Al-Samuel Hussein Osman Mansour won 1.0% of the votes.-References:* in Arabicnews.com. Retrieved June...

and the Alliance of the Peoples' Working Forces, headed by former Sudanese President Gaafar Nimeiry

Gaafar Nimeiry

Gaafar Muhammad an-Nimeiry was the Nubian President of Sudan from 1969 to 1985...

, were established and were allowed to run for election against al-Bashir's National Congress Party

National Congress (Sudan)

, however, they failed to achieve significant support, and al-Bashir was re-elected President, receiving 86.5 percent of the vote in the 2000 presidential election

Elections in Sudan

Elections in Sudan gives information on election and election results in Sudan.Sudan elects on national level a head of state - the president - and a legislature. In the most recent election of 2010, there were two presidential elections, one for the Presidency of the Republic of Sudan and one for...

. At the legislative elections that same year, al-Bashir's National Congress Party won 355 out of 360 seats, with al-Turabi as its chairman. However, after al-Turabi introduced a bill to reduce the president's powers, prompting al-Bashir to dissolve parliament and declare a state of emergency

State of emergency

A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend some normal functions of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, alert citizens to change their normal behaviours, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale...

, tensions began to rise between al-Bashir and al-Turabi. Reportedly, al-Turabi was suspended as Chairman of National Congress Party, after he urged a boycott of the President's re-election campaign. Then, a splinter-faction led by al-Turabi, the Popular National Congress Party (PNC) signed an agreement with Sudan People's Liberation Army

Sudan People's Liberation Army

, which led al-Bashir to believe that they were plotting to overthrow him and the government.

Further on, al-Turabi's influence and that of his party's "'internationalist' and ideological wing" waned "in favor of the 'nationalist' or more pragmatic leaders who focus on trying to recover from Sudan's disastrous international isolation

International isolation

International isolation is a penalty applied by the international community or a sizeable or powerful group of countries, like the United Nations, towards one nation, government or people group...

and economic damage that resulted from ideological adventurism." At the same time Sudan worked to appease the United States and other international critics by expelling members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and encouraging bin Laden to leave.

On al-Bashir's orders, al-Turabi was imprisoned based on allegations of conspiracy

Conspiracy (crime)

In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...

in 2000 before being released in October 2003. He was again imprisoned in the Kober (Cooper) prison in Khartoum in March 2004. He was released on 2005, in the height of the peace agreement in the civil war.

Civil war

Civil war had raged between the northern and southern halves of the country for over 19 years between the northern Arab

Arab

tribes and native southern African tribes, but the war soon effectively developed into a struggle between the Sudan People's Liberation Army

Sudan People's Liberation Army

and al-Bashir's government. The war resulted in millions of southerners being displaced, starved, and deprived of education and health care

Health care

Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...

, with almost two million casualties. Because of these actions, various international sanctions were placed on Sudan. International pressure intensified in 2001, however, and leaders from the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

called for al-Bashir to make efforts to end the conflict and allow humanitarian and international workers to deliver relief to the southern regions of Sudan. Much progress was made throughout 2003. The peace was consolidated with the official signing by both sides of the Nairobi Comprehensive Peace Agreement January 9, 2005, granting Southern Sudan autonomy for six years, to be followed by a referendum about independence. It created a co-vice president position and allowed the north and south to split oil

Oil

deposits equally, but also left both the north's and south's armies in place. John Garang

John Garang

John Garang de Mabior was a Sudanese politician and rebel leader. From 1983 to 2005, he led the Sudan People's Liberation Army during the Second Sudanese Civil War, and following a peace agreement he briefly served as First Vice President of Sudan from January 2005 until he died in a July 2005...

, the south's peace agreement appointed co-vice president died in a helicopter crash on 2005, three weeks after being sworn in. This resulted in riots, but the peace was eventually re-established and allowed the southerners to vote in a referendum of independence at the end of the six year period, which will be in 2011.

Darfur conflict

As the conflict in the south of Sudan began to subside, a new conflict had already begun in the western province of Darfur

Darfur

in early 2003. Unlike the Second Sudanese Civil War, this is believed to be an ethnic, rather than a religious war. The ethnic cleansing

Ethnic cleansing

Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....

towards the non-Afro-Arab

Afro-Arab

Afro-Arab refers to people of mixed Black African and genealogical Arab ancestral heritage and/or linguistically and culturally Arabized Black Africans...

population by the Janjaweed

Janjaweed

The Janjaweed is a blanket term used to describe mostly gunmen in Darfur, western Sudan, and now eastern Chad...

(literally "devils on horseback") militia has reportedly reached a death toll between 200,000 to 400,000, while the Sudanese government has denied this, saying the number of people who are killed in the conflict are less than 10,000.

The Sudanese government has been accused of suppressing information by jailing and killing witnesses since 2004, and tampering with evidence, such as covering up mass grave

Mass grave

A mass grave is a grave containing multiple number of human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. There is no strict definition of the minimum number of bodies required to constitute a mass grave, although the United Nations defines a mass grave as a burial site which...

s. The Sudanese government has also arrested and harassed journalists, thus limiting the extent of press coverage of the situation in Darfur. While the United States government

Federal government of the United States

The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...

has described the conflict as genocide

Genocide

, the UN has not recognized the conflict as such. (see List of declarations of genocide in Darfur).

In March 2007 the UN mission accused Sudan's government of orchestrating and taking part in "gross violations" in Darfur and called for urgent international action to protect civilians there. After fighting stopped in July and August, on 2006, the United Nations Security Council

United Nations Security Council

The United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of...

approved Resolution 1706

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1706

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1706, adopted on August 31, 2006, after recalling previous resolutions on the situation in Sudan, including resolutions 1556 , 1564 , 1574 , 1590 , 1591 , 1593 , 1663 , 1665 and 1679 , the Council expanded the mandate of the United Nations Mission in the...

which called for a new 20,600-troop UN peacekeeping

Peacekeeping

Peacekeeping is an activity that aims to create the conditions for lasting peace. It is distinguished from both peacebuilding and peacemaking....

force called UNAMID to supplant or supplement a poorly funded and ill-equipped 7,000-troop African Union

African Union

Mission in Sudan peacekeeping force

African Union Mission in Sudan

The African Union Mission in Sudan was an African Union peacekeeping force operating primarily in the country's western region of Darfur with the aim of performing peacekeeping operations related to the Darfur conflict. Originally founded in 2004, with a force of 150 troops, by mid-2005, its...

. Sudan strongly objected to the resolution and said that it would see the UN forces in the region as foreign invaders. The next day, the Sudanese military launched a major offensive in the region.

The United States Government stated in September 2004 "that genocide

Genocide

has been committed in Darfur and that the Government of Sudan and the Janjaweed bear responsibility and that genocide may still be occurring." Al-Bashir declared that the government had quashed the rebellion in February 2004, but rebels still operate within the region and the death toll continues to rise.

On 29 June 2004, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell

Colin Powell

Colin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African American to serve in that position. During his military...

met with al-Bashir in Sudan and urged him to make peace with the rebels, end the crisis, and lift restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid to Darfur. Kofi Annan

Kofi Annan

Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...

met with al-Bashir three days later and demanded that he disarm the Janjaweed. A high-level technical consultation was held in Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...

, Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

, on 11– 2007, pursuant to the 2007 letters of the Secretary-General and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, which were addressed to al-Bashir. The technical consultations were attended by delegations from the Government of Sudan, the African Union

African Union

and the United Nations.

In 2007, in a response to allegations that the conflict is between Arabs and Blacks, in front of a black

Black people

The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...

audience, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir replied:

Talk of Arabs killing Blacks is a lie, the government of Sudan is a government of Blacks, with all different ethnic backgrounds. We're all Africans. We're all Black.

During an interview with Sir David Frost for the Al Jazeera English programme Frost Over The World

Frost Over The World

Frost Over The World is a television interview and news talk show, with Sir David Frost as host. Frost is a famed English television presenter. The show is broadcast on Al Jazeera English...

in June 2008, al-Bashir insisted that no more than 10,000 had died in Darfur.

Omar al-Bashir has sought the assistance of numerous non western countries after the West, lead by America, imposed sanctions against him, he said- "From the first day, our policy was clear: To look eastward, toward China, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, and even Korea and Japan, even if the Western influence upon some [of these] countries is strong. We believe that the Chinese expansion was natural because it filled the space left by Western governments, the United States, and international funding agencies. The success of the Sudanese experiment in dealing with China without political conditions or pressures encouraged other African countries to look toward China."

On October 26, 2011 Bashir said that Sudan gave military support to the Libyan rebels, who overthrew Col Muammar Gaddafi

Muammar Gaddafi

Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...

. In a speech broadcast live on state television, Bashir said the move was in response to Col Gaddafi's support for Sudanese rebels three years ago. Sudan and Libya have had a complicated and frequently antagonistic relationship for many years. President Bashir said the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a Darfuri rebel group, had attacked Khartoum three years ago using Libyan trucks, equipment, arms, ammunition and money. He said God had given Sudan a chance to respond, by sending arms, ammunition and humanitarian support to the Libyan revolutionaries. "Our God, high and exalted, from above the seven skies, gave us the opportunity to reciprocate the visit," he said. "The forces which entered Tripoli, part of their arms and capabilities, were 100% Sudanese," he told the crowd. His speech was well received by a large crowd in the eastern Sudanese town of Kassala. But the easy availability of weapons in Libya, and that country's porous border with Darfur, are also of great concern to the Sudanese authorities.

Arrest warrant

On 14 July 2008, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court

International Criminal Court

(ICC), Luis Moreno Ocampo

Luis Moreno Ocampo

, alleged that al-Bashir bore individual criminal responsibility

Command responsibility

Command responsibility, sometimes referred to as the Yamashita standard or the Medina standard, and also known as superior responsibility, is the doctrine of hierarchical accountability in cases of war crimes....

for genocide

Genocide

, crimes against humanity and war crime

War crime

War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...

s committed since 2003 in Darfur. The prosecutor accused al-Bashir of having "masterminded and implemented" a plan to destroy the three main ethnic groups, the Fur

Fur people

The Fur are an ethnic group from western Sudan, principally inhabiting the region of Darfur where they are the largest tribe....

, Masalit

Masalit

The Masalit are a nation of people of Darfur in western Sudan and Wadai in eastern Chad. They speak Masalit, a Nilo-Saharan language of the Maba group. They numbered about 250,000 ....

and Zaghawa, with a campaign of murder

Murder

Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...

, rape

Rape

Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...

and deportation

Deportation

Deportation means the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. Today it often refers to the expulsion of foreign nationals whereas the expulsion of nationals is called banishment, exile, or penal transportation...

. The arrest warrant is supported by NATO, the Genocide Intervention Network

Genocide Intervention Network

thumb|right|300px|Genocide Intervention Network logoThe Genocide Intervention Network is a non-profit organization that "envisions a world in which the global community is willing and able to protect civilians from genocide and mass atrocities...

, and Amnesty International

Amnesty International

Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

.

An arrest warrant for al-Bashir was issued on 2009 by a Pre-Trial chamber composed of judges Akua Kuenyehia

Akua Kuenyehia

Akua Kuenyehia is a Ghanaian lawyer who has been a judge of the International Criminal Court since 2003. She is currently First Vice-President of the Court.Kuenyehia was educated at University of Ghana and Oxford University...

of Ghana

Ghana

Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

, Anita Usacka

Anita Ušacka

Anita Ušacka is a Latvian judge and legal academic. She has been a judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia and the International Criminal Court...

of Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

, and Sylvia Steiner

Sylvia Steiner

Sylvia Helena de Figueiredo Steiner is a Brazilian judge who has been a member of the International Criminal Court since 2003.Steiner graduated from the Law School of University of São Paulo and studied later at the University of Brasília. She acted as Federal Public Prosecutor from 1982 to 1995...

of Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

indicting him on five counts of crimes against humanity (murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture and rape) and two counts of war crimes (pillaging

War loot

War loot refers to goods, valuables and property obtained by force from their lawful owners via looting during or after warfare. These "spoils of war" differ from tributes or other payments extracted after the fact by a victorious nation in that their extraction is largely arbitrary and immediate,...

and intentionally directing attacks against civilian

Civilian

A civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces or other militia. Civilians are distinct from combatants. They are afforded a degree of legal protection from the effects of war and military occupation...

s). The court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him for genocide. However, one of the three judges wrote a dissenting opinion

Dissenting opinion

A dissenting opinion is an opinion in a legal case written by one or more judges expressing disagreement with the majority opinion of the court which gives rise to its judgment....

arguing that there were "reasonable grounds to believe that Omar Al Bashir has committed the crime of genocide".

International Criminal Court

International Criminal Court

Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told U.S. State Department officials on March 20, 2009 that President Bashir 'needed to be isolated.' Ocampo suggested if Bashir’s stash of money were disclosed (he put the figure at possibly $9 billion), it would change Sudanese public opinion from him being a “crusader” to that of a thief.

Sudan is not a state party to the Rome Statute establishing the ICC, and thus claims that it does not have to execute the warrant. However, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1593

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1593

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1593, adopted on March 31, 2005, after receiving a report by the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur, the Council referred the situation in the Darfur region of Sudan to the International Criminal Court and required all states to co-operate fully...

(2005) requires Sudan to cooperate with the ICC, and therefore the ICC, Amnesty International and others insist that Sudan must comply with the arrest warrant of the International Criminal Court. Amnesty International

Amnesty International

stated that al-Bashir must turn himself in to face the charges, and that the Sudanese authorities must detain him and turn him over to the ICC if he refuses.

Al-Bashir is the first sitting head of state

Head of State

ever indicted by the ICC. However, the Arab League

Arab League

and the African Union

African Union

condemned the warrant. Al-Bashir has since visited Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

and Qatar

Qatar

Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...

. Both countries refused to arrest him and surrender him to the ICC upon arrival. ICC member state Chad

Chad

also refused to arrest al-Bashir during a state visit in July 2010. Luis Moreno Ocampo and Amnesty International claimed that al-Bashir's plane could be intercepted in International Airspace. Sudan announced that the presidential plane would always be escorted by fighter jets of the Sudanese Air Force

Sudanese Air Force

The Sudanese Air Force is the air force operated by the Republic of the Sudan. As such it is part of the Sudanese Armed Forces.-History:The Sudanese Air Force was founded immediately after Sudan gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1956. The British assisted in the Air Force's...

to prevent his arrest.

The charges against President al-Bashir have been strongly rejected. Former president of Libya

Libya

Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....

and former Chairman of the African Union

African Union

Muammar al-Gaddafi

characterized the indictment as a form of terrorism. He also believes that the warrant is an attempt "by (the west) to recolonise their former colonies." Egypt said, it was "greatly disturbed" by the ICC decision and called for an emergency meeting of the UN security council to defer the arrest warrant. The Arab League

Arab League

Secretary-General Amr Moussa

Amr Moussa

Amr Mohammed Moussa is an Egyptian politician and diplomat who was the Secretary-General of the Arab League, a 22-member forum representing Arab states, from 1 June 2001 until 1 June 2011. He is a candidate in the 2011 Egyptian presidential election....

expressed that the organization emphasizes its solidarity with Sudan. The ICC warrant was condemned for "undermining the unity and stability of Sudan". The Organization of the Islamic Conference denounced the warrant as unwarranted and totally unacceptable. It was argued that the warrant demonstrates selectivity and double standards with concern to war crimes. There have been large demonstrations by Sudanese people supporting President Bashir and opposing the ICC charges. Others argue the warrant sets a dangerous precedent in international relations and could hamper efforts to bring peace to Sudan.

Al-Bashir has rejected the charges, saying "Whoever has visited Darfur, met officials and discovered their ethnicities and tribes ... will know that all of these things are lies." He described the charges as "not worth the ink they are written in". The warrant will be delivered to the Sudanese government, which has stated that it will not carry it out.

The Sudanese government retaliated against the warrant by expelling a number of international aid agencies

Aid agency

An aid agency is an organisation dedicated to distributing aid. Many professional aid organisations exist, both within government , between governments as multilateral donors and as private voluntary organizations...

, including Oxfam

Oxfam

Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...

and Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is a global aid agency engaged in transitional environments that have experienced some sort of shock: natural disaster, economic collapse, or conflict. People working for it move as quickly as possible from bringing in food and supplies to enabling people to rebuild their economy with...

. President Bashir described the aid agencies as thieves who take "99 percent of the budget for humanitarian work themselves, giving the people of Darfur 1 percent" and as spies in the work of foreign regimes. Bashir promised that national agencies will provide aid to Darfur.

During a visit to Egypt

Egypt

, al-Bashir was not arrested, leading to condemnation by Amnesty International

Amnesty International

. In October 2009 al-Bashir was invited to Uganda

Uganda

Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...

by President Yoweri Museveni

Yoweri Museveni

Yoweri Kaguta Museveni is a Ugandan politician and statesman. He has been President of Uganda since 26 January 1986.Museveni was involved in the war that deposed Idi Amin Dada, ending his rule in 1979, and in the rebellion that subsequently led to the demise of the Milton Obote regime in 1985...

for an African Union meeting in Kampala

Kampala

Kampala is the largest city and capital of Uganda. The city is divided into five boroughs that oversee local planning: Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division and Lubaga Division. The city is coterminous with Kampala District.-History: of Buganda, had chosen...

, but did not attend after protest by several NGOs. On October 23, 2009, al-Bashir was invited to Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

by President Umaru Yar'Adua for another AU meeting, and was not arrested. In November, he was invited to Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

for an OIC meeting. Later, he was invited to Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

to attend conferences on climate change in Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

.

It is alleged that by holding and winning legitimate presidential elections in 2010, al-Bashir hoped to evade the ICC warrant.

Al-Bashir was one of the candidates in the 2010 Sudanese presidential election, the first democratic

Democracy

Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...

election with multiple political parties participating in decades.
On April 26, he was officially declared the winner after Sudan's election commission announced Bashir received 68% of the votes. However, "the voting was marred by boycotts and reports of intimidation and widespread fraud."

Al-Bashir also visited Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

on 27 August 2010 to witness the President signing Kenya's new constitution into law.

On May 8, 2011, al-Bashir visited Djibouti

Djibouti

Djibouti , officially the Republic of Djibouti , is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. The remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at the east...

to attend the inauguration of President Guelleh

Ismail Omar Guelleh

Ismaïl Omar Guelleh is the President of Djibouti. He succeeded his uncle, Hassan Gouled Aptidon, in 1999. He is often referred to in the region by his initials 'IOG'....

's third term.

Genocide charges

The initial ICC charges against al-Bashir, which included seven counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes, were issued in March 2009 but did not include genocide counts. On appeal, the lower court was found by appellate judge Erkki Kourula to have erred in law and was ordered to reexamine the evidence for genocide. Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo anticipated that the reexamination could lead to charges within four to twelve months. Then, on February 3, 2010, the judges at the International Criminal Court held that the Pre-Trial Chamber had improperly dismissed the genocide charges against al-Bashir and ordered the Pre-Trial Chamber to reconsider them.

On July 12, 2010, the Pre-Trial Chamber applied the standard of evidence stated by the appellate court, and held that there was sufficient evidence to issue a second arrest warrant for the crime of genocide. A second arrest warrant for President al-Bashir was later issued with three added counts of genocide.
The new warrant included the Court's conclusion that:

"There are reasonable grounds to believe that (Omar al-Bashir) acted with specific intent to destroy in part the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa

Zaghawa

The Zaghawa are an ethnic group of eastern Chad and western Sudan, including Darfur.The Kanemite royal history, the Girgam, refers to the Zaghawa people as the Duguwa. Today, Zaghawa refer to themselves as the Beri, while the name "Zaghawa" comes from the nearby Arab peoples and became better known...

ethnic groups in the troubled Darfur region".

The ICC released a further statement saying that al-Bashir's charges now include "genocide by killing, genocide by causing serious bodily or mental harm and genocide by deliberately inflicting on each target group conditions of life calculated to bring about the group's physical destruction" in three separate counts. The new warrant will act as a supplement to the first, whereby the charges initially brought against al-Bashir will all remain in place, but will now include the crime of genocide which was ruled out initially, pending appeal.

On 28 August 2010 in Nairobi, Kenya chose not to arrest Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on International Criminal Court (ICC) charges of genocide when he arrived on Friday for a ceremony for the East African nation’s new constitution. He was escorted into Nairobi’s Uhuru Park, where the signing ceremony was taking place, by Tourism minister Najib Balala

Najib Balala

Najib Balala is a Kenyan politician. He is the Tourism Minister and a M.P...

External links

Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir—Trial Watch
Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir—the Hague Justice Portal
"Sudanese President Threaten Wars," Sudan Inside, 2007.
"A Cautious Welcome for Sudan's New Government," by Michael Johns, Heritage Foundation Executive Memorandum No. 245, 1989.
Arrest Warrant for Sudan's President Bashir: Arabs Are Leaving Themselves out of the International Justice System
Playing it firm, fair and smart: the EU and the ICC's indictment of Bashir, Opinion by Reed Brody, March 2009, European Union Institute for Security Studies
European Union Institute for Security Studies
The European Union Institute for Security Studies is a Paris-based EU agency of the Common Foreign and Security Policy . Its goals are to find a common security culture for the EU, to help develop and project the CFSP, and to enrich Europe’s strategic debate.The EUISS is an autonomous agency with...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Early and family life

Military career

Governance

Tensions with al-Turabi

Civil war

Darfur conflict

Arrest warrant

Genocide charges

See also

External links