The internet has been buzzing with the news of protests and the ousting of Omar Al-Bashir, the long-serving president of Sudan. This came after the people of his country got tired of ruling and protested for four months before he finally got toppled by the military. So, we are looking at the ten interesting facts about the now ousted Sudanese President. 
- Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir was born on the 1st of January 1994 in Hosh Bannaga in Sudan to a farming family in Northern Sudan which was a part of the then Egyptian Kingdom. Omar received his primary education in Northern Sudan. Afterwards, his family moved to Khartoum where he completed his secondary education.
- He joined the army at a young age where he graduated from the Sudan Military Academy in 1966. He fought in the 1973 war against Israel and quickly rose through the ranks afterwards. He became the Minister of Defense in 1989.
- Not pleased with the rulings in the country, Omar was an obstinate opponent of the government. He came into power in 1989 after he led a group of officers to topple the then democratically elected Prime Minister of the country, Sadiq al-Mahdi. He proclaimed himself the chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council where he dissolves the government and the trade union.Â
- In 1990, there was a coup attempt on Omar and it failed, Al-Bashir survived. However, the people who planned the coup did not as he ordered the execution of over 30 army and police officers associated with the coup.
- In 1993, he became the president of Sudan when he dissolved the Revolutionary Command Council and restored Sudan to Civilian Rule.
- In 2005, Omar’s government negotiated an end to the then deadly Second Sudanese Civil war which led to the separation of the south into the separate country of South Sudan.
- Four years after, in March 2019, Omar became the first sitting president to be indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for his alleged involvement in the mass killings, pillage, and rape of civilians in Darfur.Â
- Despite the mass dislike for the President in Sudan, he has been winning and ruling in the country since 1993 till 2019 when he finally resigned from his position after he was toppled by the military due to a mass protest that has been termed the ‘bread protest’ in the country.
- Since Sudan gained independence in 1952, Omar Al-Bashir is the longest-serving president in the country. One of his legacies was his call for the biggest African to be situated in Sudan. He, however, did not see this through.Â
- Omar has two wives. He is married to his cousin Fatima Khalid and Widad Babiker Omer, a widow of one of his council members. He married Widad, whose first husband, Ibrahim Shamsaddin died in a helicopter crash to further reinstate his stance that his countrymen should marry the widows of the men who have lost their lives in the war. Although Widad has five children belonging to her previous husband, Omar does not have any children of his own.Â
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