Omar al-Bashir longtime Sudanese president steps down

ANKARA

Omar Hassan al-Bashir's rule in Sudan has come full circle.

He came to power in 1989 through a military coup and was forced to step down on April 11, 2019 in almost similar circumstances.

Al-Bashir was born on Jan. 1, 1944, in the village of Housh Banga, near the province of Shendi, northern Sudan.

In June 1989, al-Bashir led a military coup against a democratically-elected government headed by then-Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi.

The coup was backed by Islamic ideologue Hassan al-Turabi, but by the mid-90s al-Bashir fell out with him and put him in jail several times.

He has been accused by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide which his army reportedly committed in Darfur -- a western region in Sudan where conflict persists since 2003.

Despite a warrant out against him by the ICC, he won elections in 2009.

In 2011, he held a referendum in South Sudan, in which the people voted for independence from Sudan.

His rule was punctured by popular protests in the early weeks of Arab Spring in January 2011, and in 2013 against rising fuel prices.

Dozens were killed and hundreds were injured during the 2013 protests before the government managed to suppress the protests.

Late in 2018, mass protests demanding economic reforms spiralled into calls for al-Bashir's resignation.

Sudanese authorities say dozens have been killed since the protests began, while the opposition put the death toll closer to 50.

A month later, al-Bashir pledged to carry out urgent economic reforms amid continued calls by the opposition to protest.

On April 6, thousands of Sudanese people staged a sit-in outside army headquarters in the capital to exert pressure over the Sudanese army to intervene.

Earlier Thursday, President Omar al-Bashir stepped down in the wake of continued calls for his resignation.

Observers told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity that the move comes before an expected official statement on the stepping down of al-Bashir.

Al-Bashir is now under house arrest and his bodyguards have been detained, local media reported.

Meanwhile, Sudanese military intelligence rounded up more than 100 executives of the ruling National Congress Party.