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10 Things You Didn’t Know About Sudan’s Wanted President Omar Al-Bashir

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Sudan’s Wanted President Omar Al-Bashir

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If you compare the crimes leveled against Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir to Sepp Blatter’s FIFA scandal, Blatter would looks like an angel. From mass murders to corruption allegations running into billions of dollars, it’s no wonder that a South African High Court ordered that President Bashir be detained during a visit to attend an African Union summit in Johannesburg.

In a continent full of despots, Bashir is one of the longest serving head of state in Africa and one of the most controversial. AFKInsider looks at some of the things that make him stand out amongst his peers:

Source: enca.com, thefamouspeople.com, answersafrica.com, trust.org,

elombah.com
elombah.com

He’s married to his cousin and has no children of his own

Bashir is married to his cousin Fatima Khalid. He has a second wife Widad Babiker Omer, who has children from her first marriage to Ibrahim Shamsaddin, a member of the Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation. Bashir does not have any children of his own with either of his wives.

news24africa.com
news24africa.com

He came to power through a bloodless coup in 1989

As a brigadier of the Sudanese army, Bashir, led a group of army officers in a bloodless military coup on 30 June 1989 to oust the unstable coalition government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi, and took over the leadership of the country.

www.dailymail.co.uk
www.dailymail.co.uk

He’s been the president of Sudan for 22 years

After ousting the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi when it began negotiations with rebels in the south, Bashir disbanded the Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation in 1993 and declared himself the president of the country.

voanews.com
voanews.com

He has been re-elected three times

The Sudanese president has been elected back into office three times in his 26 years in power. Although the election were merely a sham to extend his rule and were disputed.

theguardian.com
theguardian.com

He was the first sitting president to be indicted by the ICC

Bashir was the first sitting president the world over to be indicted by the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2009. In 2010, the ICC issued a second arrest warrant against him, this time charging him with genocide.

en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

He oversaw the referendum that lead to the cessation of South Sudan

Under his leadership the South gained autonomy from the north in 2010, and became the People’s Republic of South Sudan a year later.

waterforsudan.squarespace.com
waterforsudan.squarespace.com

He ruled over Africa’s largest country by size before S.Sudan cessation

Before June 2011, Sudan was the biggest country in Africa in terms of size. However since South Sudan declared independence for the Northern part of Sudan, Algeria became the largest country on the continent, followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo and then the current Sudan.

dabangasudan.org
dabangasudan.org

He oversaw the Darfur war that killed an estimated 300,000 people

In 2003, conflict flared in the western part of Sudan known as Darfur when rebels, accusing the Khartoum government of neglecting them, took up arms. The Bashir-led government responded with a heavy hand from state army and pro-government militia known as Janjaweed. The conflict continues to date and the UN estimates that more than 300,000 have been killed while more than 1.4 million others have been displaced.

al-bashir7

It’s estimated that Bashir has looted over $9 billion from Sudan

According to leaked US diplomatic cables, Bashir has over $9 billion of siphoned wealth stashed in London banks. At one point, former ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said that some of the funds were being held in UK’s part-nationalize Lloyds Banking Group. The bank refuted the claims.

flickr.com
flickr.com

He’s been accused of harboring Islamic terrorist groups

His friendship with Hassan al-Turabi, an Islamist politician with links to Arab militant groups including Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda Group, also added to his notoriety leading to accusations of harboring and providing sanctuary and assistance to Islamic terrorist groups.