Although last year Bashir ranked a mere seventh among the 10 worst dictators, this year's list has him as the worst of the worst because of the 70,000 people who have been killed in Sudan's Darfur region and 6 million internally displaced as a result of Khartoum's ethnic cleansing, contributing editor David Wallechinsky wrote in Sunday's edition of Parade.
Among his signature forms of abuse: slave trading and aerial bombing of women's and children's refugee camps.
Following Bashir are, in order: Kim Jong Il (North Korea), Than Shwe (Myanmar, formerly Burma), Hu Jintao (China), Crown Prince Abdullah (Saudi Arabia), Muammar al-Qadafi (Libya), Pervez Musharraf (Pakistan), Saparmurat Niyazov (Turkmenistan), Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe) and Teodoro Obiang Nguema (Equatorial Guinea).
Receiving dishonorable mentions are King Mswati III (Swaziland), Aleksander Lukashenko (Belarus) and Fidel Castro (Cuba), the world's longest-reigning -- and in Latin America an almost beloved -- dictator.
Wallechinsky developed his list by consulting such human rights groups as Freedom House, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders.
Bashir bumps Kim Jong-il off first place in world's worst top ten
13 Feb: South Korean news has picked up on the story: North Korean leader Kim Jong-il comes second in a sorry top ten of the world's worst dictators compiled by the US magazine Parade. The magazine, a weekend supplement to 340 US newspapers, said in its Sunday edition Kim was the among the planet's worst living dictators because of the personality cult surrounding him and his late father Kim Il-sung, the oppression of a third of North Koreans classified as a "hostile class", detention of 250,000 political prisoners, public execution of dissidents, and suppression of press freedom. The annual list was compiled by Parade contributing writer David Wallechinsky.
Musharraf included in world's 10 worst dictators list!
13 Feb India news says even though US President George W Bush has time and again acknowledged Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf's contribution in the US led global War on Terro', an American weekly magazine has included Musharraf among the "world's 10 worst dictators".
According to the Daily Times, Parade, which is distributed with every newspaper delivered to an American home or sold on the street or at a newsstand at weekends, has compiled in consultation with Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, Amnesty International, and Reporters Without Borders, a list that places General Musharraf among the 'world's worst 10 dictators" along with others like Kim Jong Il of North Korea, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, Than Shwe of Myanmar, Hu Jintao of China, Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, Saparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Teodoro Obiang Nuguema of Equatorial Guinea.
"Two years after seizing power in a military coup that overthrew an elected government, Gen Pervez Musharraf appointed himself President of Pakistan. He recently agreed to step down as head of the military, then reversed the decision, claiming that he was best suited to unite Pakistan's contentious political and military elements. 'The country is more important than democracy,' he said. Pakistan has endangered the world by spreading nuclear technology. Last year, it was discovered that Abdul Qadeer Khan, head of Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme, has been selling nuclear technology to North Korea, Libya and Iran. As for civil liberties in Pakistan, a woman who has been raped may present her case only if she can produce four Muslim men who witnessed the attack," the paper quoted the report as saying. (ANI)
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Mans inhumanity to man
Following on from the post above, it is interesting to see Middle East Financial Network online Feb 12 carrying the same UPI report titled "Omar Bashir named world's worst dictator".
Here's hoping the news item will spread on the Internet and reach him and all the other dictators listed, in time for Valentine's Day as a message from the world to make love not war. Who knows if it might sober them up and change their mindset. If their wives, children, relatives, friends and religious leaders got to hear about it, maybe they could make a difference. Mankind needs more love, not hate and cruelty.
Note the absence of females among the list of those who mass murder defenceless women and children. Since when did men stop protecting women and children? Men really must wake up to what is going on or they will, like the Neanderthals become extinct. It might take 10,000 years or more but with so many psychos in power and so few men willing to do stop them, who needs any of them?
On the other hand, with a population of six billion human beings chasing resources, maybe the world needs such predators. After the holocaust and Rwanda the world said "never again" but it was less than ten years ago, and a two hour flight away from here in England, that genocide occurred in Bosnia while the world watched. Mankind is not as civilised as we like to believe. There is a long way to go yet. Genocides will continue to occur. Too many humans amongst too many predatory barbarians. Perhaps sporadic culling of humans is part of nature in their battle for survival. I have no other explanation for mans inhumanity to man.
Photo: June 2004 Secretary-General Kofi Annan (second from left) meeting with the President of Sudan, Omir Hassan A. Al-Bashir (right). (UN Photo by Eskinder Debebe). See more photos of Mr Annan's visit to the Sudan June 30, 2004 and July 10-12, 2002.
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13 Feb Sunday Times report says a psychiatrist brings back concept of evil - Many killers are diagnosed as psychopaths but most psychopaths never commit violent crimes. This suggests that something extra is at work. A study of serial killers and mass murderers suggests that some criminals are so inherently bad that there is no other word to describe their actions.
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Islam will remain main source for legislation in Sudan: president
9 Feb AFP news reveals Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir said that Islam will continue to be the main source of legislation in Sudan even after the peace deal with the mainly animist and Christian southern rebels. He made the comments while addressing a crowd in al-Suqi in central Sudan, the official Sudan News Agency reported.
Photo: Sudanese Sufis practice their religious rituals in the arid Khartoum suburb of Omdurman. (AFP)
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Sudan's FM spins Arab media today
Sudan's FM praises UAE support. Ismail told Dubai news today:
"President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has spared no efforts to help Sudan and its people. He said that the UAE had paid a special attention to the plight of the people of Darfur and was one of the first countries to dispatch humanitarian aid to the people of that region. "Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and I are in continuous contacts about developments in Sudan," Ismael added.
The Sudanese Foreign Minister called on the Arab countries to get actively involved in the efforts being made to help the people of Darfur, "so Darfurians will not feel abandoned by their Arab brethrens." He said that a five-side summit will be hosted by Chad on February 16 to try to come with a clear view of the forthcoming round of negotiations with Darfur rebels. The summit will be attended by leaders of Nigeria, Libya, Egypt and Sudan.
Photo: Dr Mustafa Osman Ismail, Sudanese foreign minister
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Annan tells EU, NATO more help needed in Darfur
13 Feb Munich, Germany Reuters report: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the European Union and NATO on Sunday to do more to help end the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
"People are dying every single day, while we fail to protect them," Annan told a hall full of government ministers and top defence officials at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.
He said the African Union's capacity to provide security in Darfur was dwarfed by the size of the challenge.
"Additional measures are urgently required. Those organisations with real capacity -- and NATO as well as the EU are well represented in this room -- must give serious consideration to what, in practical terms, they can do to help end this tragedy," he said.
"Together, working in close cooperation, we must come up with an effective strategy that halts the killing and protects the vulnerable. Otherwise, we shall have failed the people of Darfur. I am ready to play my full part in working out such a strategy," Annan said.
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Sudan opposition pushes for trials abroad for Darfur war crimes
13 Feb AFP report: Sudanese opposition parties from across the political spectrum pressed for Darfur war crimes suspects to stand trial abroad, backing the international community against the Khartoum regime.
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Darfur rebels reject Garang offer of peacekeeping troops
Feb 13 AFP report: SLA rebel group in Darfur, Western Sudan Sunday rejected an offer by John Garang's former SPLM rebel group in Southern Sudan to provide peacekeeping troops for Darfur.
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