Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Sudan leader tightens grip on power

|
|
 
  
Published: July 28, 2008 at 8:53 AM

KHARTOUM, Sudan, July 28 (UPI) -- Despite facing an arrest warrant for genocide, Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is consolidating his grip on power within the country, analysts say.

His political foes are lining up behind him because they fear if he were arrested, the nation would fall into Somalia-style anarchy, The New York Times reported Monday. Bashir is accused by prosecutors of the International Criminal Court in The Hague of mass slayings of non-Muslim Africans in the Sudanese province of Darfur.

Observers told the newspaper that government officials are considering trying two of Bashir's lieutenants -- Ahmad Harun, Sudan's former interior minister, and militia leader Ali Kushayb -- also wanted by the international court. The hope is bringing them to justice might relieve the pressure to turn over Bashir.

The Times said Sudanese leaders feel the country is facing the threat of extinction and so Bashir's former enemies are putting aside their grievances, resulting a major reordering of Khartoum's political scene.

Topics: Hassan Al Bashir, Omar Hassan al-Bashir
Recommended Stories
© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Father's Day: Celebrity dads The 2012 Miss USA competition Faces of the 2012 French Open
2012 MTV Movie Awards Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee Notable deaths of 2012
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 21
Singer Janelle Monae arrives at the 2012 MTV Movie Awards in Universal City, California
View Caption
Singer Janelle Monae arrives for the MTV Movie Awards at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California. UPI/Jim Ruymen
fark
Half naked woman tasered. The bottom half
Since Octomom will be stripping... lets help her come up with a stage name. (voting enabled)
Campers rescue puppy. And by "puppy" I mean "wolf cub". And by "rescue" I mean "remove from its...
Octomom to start stripper career at T's Lounge in West Palm Beach. Subby has been to T's Lounge,...
Amazing picture from the ISS, showing the Dragon capsule approaching the ISS with Vancouver Island...
Dogs are 100 times more valuable than babies according to New Jersey state law