(Ecofin Agency) - President Omar el-Béchir, who is at the head of Sudan since 1989, said in an interview broadcasted on April 7 by BBC he will withdraw at the end of his current term in 2020.

“In 2020, there will be a new president and I will become the former president,” Bechir said. He became Head of State after a coup by Islamic movement.

Formerly a general, Sudan’s president was re-elected in April 2015 with 94.5% of the votes. Elections were then boycotted by opposition and judged as not much transparent by observers.

This is not the first time that President Bechir says he will withdraw from Sudan’s politics. Truly he said he would not run for president during the 2015 elections.

International Criminal Court issued an arrest mandate against the 72-year president to answer charges of war crimes, crime against humanity and genocide in Darfur, a large region in the western part of Sudan where, according to UN, 300,000 people were killed and 2.5 million had to flee violence which continues since 2003.