Sudan prime minister names first cabinet since Al Bashir’s ouster
It includes Sudan’s first woman foreign minister and a former World Bank economist
Cairo: Sudan’s newly appointed prime minister announced his cabinet on Thursday, the first since the military’s ouster of former president Omar Al Bashir in April.
The cabinet includes Sudan’s first woman foreign minister and a former World Bank economist.
The cabinet is part of a power-sharing agreement between the military and pro-democracy demonstrators, following pressure from the US and its Arab allies, amid growing concerns the political crisis could ignite a civil war.
Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok said in a news conference in the capital, Khartoum, on Thursday that the cabinet will include at least three women, including Asma’a Abdullah as the first woman to serve as foreign minister in Sudanese history.
He also picked Ebrahim Al Badawi, a former World Bank economist, to lead the finance ministry. Overhauling Sudan’s ailing economy is a top challenge facing the county’s transitional government.
Under the power-sharing agreement, Hamdok will form a cabinet of not more than 20 ministers, but the military will nominate the defence and interior ministers.
The military has nominated Lt Gen Jamal Omar as defence minister and Idriss Al Traifi as interior minister.
The deal, signed earlier this month, created a joint military-civilian Sovereign Council to rule for a little over three years until elections can be held.
The military ousted Al Bashir, who came to power after a military coup in 1989, in April after months of mass protests against his three-decade-rule.