Veteran Sudan leader Bashir to run for re-election

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir -- in power since a 1989 coup -- will stand for re-election in 2015 after being retained as leader of the ruling party on Tuesday, an adviser said.
Bashir, who is the only sitting head of state wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), was re-elected as both leader and presidential candidate of the National Congress Party (NCP) at a party convention, his chief assistant Ibrahim Ghandour said.
He won "266 out of 522" votes, Ghandour added. "We will present him to the(NCP) general congress just to approve" his candidacy.
The 70-year-old career soldier took power in an Islamist-backed coup, and there had been doubts about whether he would run again in the controversial election, slated for April.
In a March interview, Ghandour said Bashir "declared many times that he's not willing to" stand again but the decision was with the party.
Two knee operations over the summer also raised worries over his health ahead of the election.
But Bashir's name was put on the party's shortlist of five candidates and his tally in Tuesday's convention vote was enough to rule out a further round of voting, Ghandour said.
The 2015 elections for the presidency and national and state parliaments will be only the second since the 1989 coup.
Bashir is wanted by the ICC on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Darfur region of western Sudan.
At least 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur and two million people forced to flee their homes since non-Arab rebels first rose up against the Arab-dominated Khartoum regime in 2003, the United Nations says.
The government puts the death toll at 10,000.
Source: AFP