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. [related-post] 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.
