Headline PH: Sudanese president sworn in after election win

KHARTOUM, Sudan – Sudan's president was sworn in on Thursday for another five-year term after an election marred by boycotts and fraud allegations — the only head of state to be re-elected while facing an international arrest warrant for war crimes.

At his inauguration ceremony in the national parliament, Omar al-Bashir pledged Sudan would not return to war and that an independence referendum in the country's south would be held next year as planned.

Al-Bashir is sought by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, for allegedly masterminding atrocities in Darfur. Sudan doesn't recognize the tribunal and has refused to cooperate or hand over its citizens.

The inauguration in Khartoum came a day after the ICC reported Sudan to the U.N. Security Council for refusing to arrest two other Sudanese officials — a government minister and a militia leader. The two are also suspected of war crimes in Darfur, where fighting between government and rebel forces killed 300,000 people and displaced 2.7 million from their homes.

Al-Bashir, who came to power 21 years ago in a military coup, got a comfortable majority in the April elections, winning 68 percent of more than 10 million valid ballots. His victory was widely expected after his most credible challengers pulled out of the race to protest alleged fraud.

But the win was unlikely to put to rest questions about his international standing or ease Sudan's isolation. Al-Bashir cannot travel freely because he risks being arrested in countries that recognize the ICC.

By MOHAMED OSMAN,
Associated Press Writer

You might also like this: