- Title: The rise and fall of Sudan's ousted president Omar Hassan al-Bashir
- Date: 15th August 2019
- Summary: WESTERN DARFUR, SUDAN (FILE - JULY 24, 2008) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** AL-BASHIR EXITING PLANE, WAVING HIS STICK AL-BASHIR STANDING IN BACK OF VEHICLE SURROUNDED BY CHEERING CROWD AND HOLDING UP HIS STICK ARMY HELICOPTER FLYING ABOVE CROWD (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SUDANESE PRESIDENT, OMAR HASSAN AL-BASHIR, ADDRESSING CROWD AND SAYING: "We have come here to confirm to you that we are committed to comprehensive peace in Darfur. Peace is strategic, essential and the top issue on which we will all work together." VARIOUS OF CROWD DANCING, HOLDING POSTER OF AL-BASHIR Kenya's foreign minister meets with al-Bashir in an effort to resolve a stand-off touched off by a Kenyan court ruling that orders the arrest of al-Bashir if he enters Kenya. KHARTOUM, SUDAN (FILE - DECEMBER 1, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF AL-BASHIR READING WRITTEN MESSAGE DELIVERED BY KENYAN DELEGATION RELATING TO KENYAN COURT ORDER TO ARREST HIM IF HE SETS FOOT IN KENYA AND HAND HIM OVER TO THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (ICC) IN THE HAGUE ON GENOCIDE CHARGES KENYAN MINISTER OF DEFENCE, YUSUF HAJI AND KENYAN FOREIGN MINISTER, MOSES WETANGULA AL-BASHIR CLOSING THE MESSAGE AND NODDING TOWARDS HAJI AND WETANGULA Al-Bashir fuels tensions with the South by vowing to only communicate "through guns and ammunition". HEGLIG, SUDAN (FILE - APRIL 23, 2012) (REUTERS) AL-BASHIR EXITING PLANE AND SALUTING LEADER OF MILITARY OPERATION IN HEGLIG, MAJOR GENERAL KAMAL ABDUL MAROUF, VISITING THE REGION AFTER SOUTH SUDAN'S ARMY BRIEFLY SEIZED THE HEGLIG OIL FIELD AL-BASHIR SURROUNDED BY CHEERING SUDANESE ARMED FORCES (SAF) SOLDIERS CHEERING SAF SOLDIERS STANDING ON TANK SAF SOLDIERS WAVING GUNS AND SUDANESE FLAG Al-Bashir visits South Sudan's capital Juba where he holds talks with South Sudan's President Salva Kiir. At a joint news conference in Juba, al-Bashir tells journalists Sudan has no intention of supporting any opposition rebels in South Sudan. JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN (FILE - JANUARY 6, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF AL-BASHIR AND SOUTH SUDAN PRESIDENT SALVA KIIR SEATED FOR PHOTO OPPORTUNITY Al-Bashir, as an incumbent, casts his vote in an election boycotted by the main opposition parties. The parties boycotting the election say a clampdown on the opposition, media and civil society has created an impossible environment to run against al-Bashir. KHARTOUM, SUDAN (FILE - APRIL 13, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF AL-BASHIR VOTING IN PRESIDENTIAL AND PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS, WHICH WERE BOYCOTTED BY OPPOSITION PARTIES AND WHICH HE WON WITH 94 PERCENT OF THE VOTE Al-Bashir arrives in the capital Khartoum in defiance of a South African court that said he should have been arrested, Sudan Television shows. KHARTOUM, SUDAN (FILE - JUNE 2, 2015) (REUTERS) MEMBERS AND GUESTS SEATED IN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY HALL FOR AL-BASHIR'S INAUGURATION CEREMONY AL-BASHIR SWEARING OATH EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT ABDUL FATAH AL-SISI AND ZIMBABWEAN PRESIDENT ROBERT MUGABE LISTENING MEMBERS APPLAUDING Al-Bashir, visiting South Africa for an African Union summit, stands accused in an ICC arrest warrant of war crimes and crimes against humanity over atrocities committed in the Darfur conflict. He was first indicted in 2009. JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (FILE - JUNE 14, 2015) (REUTERS) LEADERS GATHERED FOR GROUP PHOTOGRAPH DURING AFRICAN UNION SUMMIT AL-BASHIR TALKING TO SAHARAWI PRIME MINISTER ABDELKADER TALEB OMAR GROUP DISPERSING / SOUTH AFRICAN PRIME MINISTER JACOB ZUMA WALKING PAST AL-BASHIR Al-Bashir wanted by the ICC since 2008 on war crimes and genocide charges, leaves South Africa in defiance of a domestic court which ordered that he stay. THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS (FILE - JUNE 15, 2015) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (ICC) ICC SIGN OUTSIDE COURT Al-Bashir arrives in Khartoum to a hero's welcome after defying a South Africa court order for him to remain in the country until it rules on an application for his arrest. KHARTOUM, SUDAN (FILE - JUNE 15, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF AL-BASHIR'S PLANE RETURNING HIM FROM JOHANNESBURG TO KHARTOUM, AFTER HE DEFIED A SOUTH AFRICAN COURT ORDER TO REMAIN IN THE COUNTRY UNTIL IT RULED ON THE ICC APPLICATION FOR HIS ARREST AL-BASHIR DISEMBARKING, WAVING STICK IN AIR AL-BASHIR BEING GREETED BY GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS
- Embargoed: 29th August 2019 22:00
- Keywords: Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir Sudan Syria Bashar al-Assad Sadeq al-Mahdi
- Location: SEE SCRIPT BODY FOR LOCATIONS
- City: SEE SCRIPT BODY FOR LOCATIONS
- Country: Sudan
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00BASCJ493
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: CONTAINS NUDITY
Sudan's 75-year-old president Omar al-Bashir was overthrown in a coup by the armed forces on April 11, 2019 after weeks of protests against his 30-year autocratic style rule.
Al-Bashir was born in 1944 in the Nile Valley north of Khartoum. The son of a small farmer, he graduated from Sudan's military academy in 1966 and was a career army officer who rose to the rank of general.
Al-Bashir came to power in June 1989 after toppling democratically elected prime minister Sdiq al-Mahdi in a military coup amid a long-running a civil war between Sudan's north and south. Al-Bashir was then elected as president in a poll his critics said were neither fair nor free.
In October 1993, he dissolved the military junta which brought him to power and appointed himself civilian president in a move designed to establish Islamic government in Africa's largest country as stable and civilian-based.
In 2015, Al-Bashir's quarter-century power was extended with a landslide victory for himself and his rulling party, winning 94 percent of the vote in an election boycotted by all opposition parties.
Sudan had suffered prolonged periods of isolation since 1993, when the United States added al-Bashir's government to its list of terrorism sponsors for harboring Islamist militants. Washington followed up with sanctions four years later.
The long civil war with southern separatists ended in 2005 and South Sudan became an independent country in 2011.
Al-Bashi rhas been detained in a prison in Khartoum North, across the Blue Nile from the capital's centre, since he was ousted in April.
He was later charged with incitement and involvement in the killing of protesters, as well as money laundering and financing terrorism.
Al-Bashir has also been indicted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague and is facing an arrest warrant over allegations of genocide in Sudan's Darfur region during an insurgency that began in 2003 and led to death of an estimated 300,000 people.
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