Khartoum--Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who was temporarily banned by a court from leaving South Africa Sunday, has defied war crimes charges from the International Criminal Court since 2009.
Despite being indicted by the ICC in 2009 and again in 2010 on genocide charges, Bashir won elections in April with more than 94 percent of the vote, facing an opposition boycott and a handful of little-known challengers.
The 71-year-old has proved to be a political survivor, since seizing power in a 1989 Islamist-backed coup, facing down not only the ICC indictments but also a myriad of domestic challenges.
Dressed in traditional gleaming white robes and sporting his trademark thick moustache, Bashir appeared triumphant at his inauguration on June 2, promising to turn a "new page" for Sudan.
At a ceremony attended by the presidents of Egypt, Kenya and Zimbabwe, Bashir said he would mend Sudan's foreign relations and remedy its ailing economy.
And in the lead-up to the elections, he visited Saudi Arabia and Egypt, flouting travel restrictions imposed by his ICC indictments.
At home, parliament granted him greater powers last year and recent diplomatic successes have left him riding high.
Bashir has also boosted his image abroad with Sudan helping to broker a deal in March between Egypt and Ethiopia to resolve a dispute over the sharing of waters from the Nile.
He also joined a Saudi-led coalition against Shiite rebels in Yemen, improving ties with the oil-rich Gulf nations.
A career soldier, Bashir is well known for his populist touch, insisting on being close to crowds and addressing them in colloquial Sudanese Arabic.
Bashir, who has two wives and no children, was born in 1944 in Hosh Bannaga to an agricultural family, in Sudan's Arab heartland north of Khartoum.
He entered the military at a young age, rising through the ranks and joining an elite parachute regiment.
He fought alongside the Egyptian army in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
In 1989, then a brigade commander, he led a bloodless coup against the democratically elected government.
He was backed by the National Islamic Front of his then mentor Hassan al-Turabi.
AFP
