Omar Al-Bashir and Africa's Longest War

by Paul Moorcraft

Overview

President Omar al-Bashir is Africa’s and arguably Arabia’s most controversial leader. In power since 1989, he is the first sitting head of state to be issued with an arrest warrant, for war crimes, by International Criminal Court.

He has been a central personality in Islamic and African politics, as well as a love-to-hate figure for the US in the ‘war on terror’.

For military history readers, Al-Bashir is a field marshal who has fought possibly the world’s longest conflict. Modern Sudan has been embroiled in war since 1955.

No proper biography has been written on him before. Nor has there been a comprehensive military history of Sudan. The book briefly covers the military background until independence. Then it dissects the long north-south civil war until Bashir’s Islamist military coup in 1989. Thereafter it narrates the wars in the east, south, west (in Darfur), International political and military intervention is also factored in.

The author draws on in-depth one-on-one interviews with Bashir himself and his family and close political, military and intelligence colleagues.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781473842526
Publisher:	Pen and Sword
Publication date:	08/18/2016
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Professor Paul Moorcraft has frontline experience reporting on over 20 years, from A-Z, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, as a correspondent for print, radio and TV for nearly 40 years. He is currently Visiting Professor at Cardiff University and Director of the Centre for Foreign Policy Analysis, London.

Table of Contents

About the Author vi

Abbreviations viii

Glossary of Terms x

Modern Sudanese Timeline xi

Maps xiii

List of Illustrations xvii

Introduction xix

1 The Historical Background 1

2 British Rule 22

3 Failed Democracy - Failed Coups (1956-1989) 36

4 The Making of a President 78

5 The Duopoly 90

6 The General Takes the Reins 117

7 The Road to Peace in the South 126

8 The War in the West: Darfur 149

9 ICC and Sudan 168

10 The Fall of the Republic 178

11 Aftermath 193

Conclusion - Omar Al-Bashir's Legacy 202

Appendix - A Short Guide to the Internal Forces Fighting in Sudan's Civil Wars 209

Endnotes 222

Select Bibliography 225

Index 226