Elected Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Thursday was sworn in before the National Legislative Council (Parliament) for a new five-year presidential term.

The inauguration was attended by a number of African heads of state including the Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno, the Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, President of Djibouti Ismail Omar Guelleh, President of Malawi Bingu Wa Mutharika, whose country is chairing the current session of the African Union, Mauritanian President Mohamed Wald Abdul-Aziz, President of Central Africa Republic, Francois Bozize and the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

Special Representative of the United Nations' Secretary General for Sudan, Haile Menkerios, the Head of the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) Ibrahim Gambari, and representatives of China, Qatar State, Egypt, Libya, the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Arab League also attended the ceremony.

Al-Bashir was sworn in after winning the recent Sudanese general elections, the first of its kind in the country in more than 25 years, held in April.