Bin Laden-linked Islamist wants Obama win

SUDAN: Sudan's veteran Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi, linked to Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the 1990s, hopes US President Barack Obama will win a second term on Tuesday."Obama of course," Turabi told AFP when asked about his US Presidential preference during an interview.

"He's gentle towards the Muslims generally," Turabi said, and referred to Obama's childhood spent in Muslim-majority Indonesia, and his Kenyan father who was raised a Muslim. Obama uses the word "terrorism" far less than his predecessor George W. Bush, and his name is a variant of the Arabic word "Baraka", Turabi said.

"You know what 'Baraka' means in Arabic? Blessing." Turabi has been a force in Sudanese politics for six decades, and was a key figure behind the 1989 coup which brought the Islamist regime of President Omar al-Bashir to power.

AFP