Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir, long wanted on genocide and war crimes charges, was finally brought down in a popular uprising by the very people he ruled with an iron fist for 30 years. One of Africa’s longest-serving presidents, the 75-year-old had remained defiant in the face of months-long protests that left dozens of demonstrators dead in clashes with security forces. In what was clearly a last ditch effort to quell the protests, Bashir had imposed a state of emergency on February 22 after an initial crackdown failed to rein in the demonstrators.
