Sudanese president and prime minister from 1989. An army officer, he came to
power after overthrowing the democratically elected government of Sadiq al-Mahdi in
1989 and initiating what has been described as an Islamic revolution. He established
a Revolutionary Command Council, and became head of state and government, and
commander-in-chief. He initially abolished all existing institutions, political parties,
and trade unions, with the justification of reducing regional and religious tensions. In
1993 he re-established a civilian government, though opposition parties and trade
unions were still banned until 1999. Elections held in 1996 and again in 2000
consolidated his position. His period in office has been marked by ongoing civil war
between government troops and non-Muslim rebels based in the south of Sudan.
After he came to power, Bashir ruthlessly crushed political opposition, and faced an
attempted coup in 1990. After the ban on political parties was lifted, in December
1999, he faced a parliamentary vote on constitutional changes that would reduce his
powers. He pre-empted the result by declaring a state of emergency, dissolving
parliament, and sacking his ministers. The parliamentary speaker and former ally,
Hassan al-Turabi, accused the president of effectively staging a coup. By the end of
January 2000, Bashir had reinstated most of his ministers, but the power struggle
with Turabi continued. Elections in December 2000, boycotted by opposition parties
and not held at all in the predominantly non-Muslim south, re-established a
parliament that supported Bashir.
After leaving school Bashir trained as a paratrooper. Before he seized power in 1989
he was serving as a brigadier general in the El Muglad area of southern Kordofan.
Basu, Jyoti (1914– )
Indian politician, chief minister of West Bengal from 1977. He is the longest-serving
chief minister of any Indian state and also the leader of the longest-running
democratically elected communist government in the world.
Basu was educated in Calcutta (now Kolkata), Cambridge, and London where he met
British Communist Party leaders and formed the Indian Communist Group at London.
After obtaining his law degree in 1940 he returned to India and joined the Communist
Party of India (CPI). Basu was elected to the Bengal legislative council in 1946 and
remained a member of the legislature when the state was partitioned the following
year. When the CPI split in 1964 he became a founding member of the Communist
Party of India-Marxists (CPM) and held various positions in the party.
Batista (y Zaldívar), Fulgencio (1901–1973)
Cuban right-wing dictator, dictator-president 1934–44 and 1952–59. Having led the
September 1933 coup to install Ramón Grau San Martín in power, he forced Grau's
resignation in 1934 to become Cuba's effective ruler, as formal president from 1940.
Exiled in the USA 1944–49, he ousted President Carlos Prío Socarrás in a military
coup in 1952. His authoritarian methods enabled him to jail his opponents and amass
a large personal fortune. He was overthrown by rebel forces led by Fidel Castro in
- Batista fled to the Dominican Republic and later to Portugal. He died in Spain.