Sudan Swears in President Bashir, Wanted in War Crimes

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, attends an African Union summit on health focusing on HIV and AIDS in Abuja, Nigeria, Monday, July 15, 2013, Angry that Nigeria is hosting a fugitive accused of genocide and war crimes, human rights lawyers Monday asked the Federal High Court to issue an arrest warrant for Sudan's leader Omar al-Bashir.Nigerian civil rights activists sent an urgent request to the International Criminal Court to refer the Nigerian government to the U.N. Security Council for failing to detain al-Bashir and surrender him to the court in The Hague for trial, said the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project. AP Photo/Sunday Aghaeze

KHARTOUM, Sudan— Sudan is swearing in incumbent President Omar al-Bashir, who was recently re-elected in a landslide that extended his 25-year-old rule, despite international war crimes charges and multiple insurgencies.

In a Tuesday ceremony held in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, al-Bashir delivered a speech promising to combat corruption and emphasize economic growth. He also offered amnesty to armed rebel groups if they agreed to peace talks.

Al-Bashir, who took power in a bloodless Islamist coup in 1989, is the only sitting head of state facing genocide charges at the International Criminal Court. The charges stem from the conflict in Darfur, where 300,000 people were killed and 2 million displaced during the government’s brutal response to an armed rebellion.