AFP

A Sudanese man hurled his shoe at President Omar al-Beshir on Monday but missed him, witnesses said, adding the assailant was promptly arrested.

The man, who was in his 40s, threw the footwear at Beshir in a hallway of the Friendship Hall, where the president hosts guests, witnesses said on condition of anonymity.

Security men quickly detained the shoe thrower.

He was later identified as Adil Mohammed Fath al-Rahman Mahjub, a man who once held a position in government and suffers from psychiatric disorders, the official news agency SUNA said without elaborating.

"He wanted to deliver a letter to the president... but was intercepted by guards of the president who told him the time and place were not appropriate. He then took off his shoe and threw it," the agency said.

The man was otherwise unarmed, SUNA said, adding the shoe thrower was treated at a psychiatric hospital before being released to his family.

Beshir has ruled Sudan since seizing power in a military coup in 1989 and he is standing for re-election in April, when Sudan holds its first general election in 24 years.

The president, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in the restive Darfur region, is the latest leader targeted by a shoe-thrower.

In the best known incident, Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi threw his shoe at then US president George W Bush on December 14, 2008, during his farewell visit to Baghdad.

Zaidi said at the time it was a "farewell kiss" for Bush. He was jailed for nine months but flown out of the country after being released for his own security.

The assault caused massive embarrassment to Bush and his host, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, particularly since throwing a shoe at someone is considered especially insulting and humiliating in Arab culture.

Other officials who have had shoes thrown at them include Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao while on a visit to Britain and Israel's ambassador to Sweden.