Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has approved 14 civilian members of his cabinet, a source said on Tuesday, reported Reuters. The prime minister was supposed to announce a cabinet last Wednesday.
Mohamed al-Faki Suleiman, spokesman and member of the new Sudan Sovereignty Council, on Tuesday, said the full cabinet announcement will be made in the next 48 hours. It will be the first cabinet to be appointed since the overthrow of longtime leader Omar al-Bashir in April due to mass public protests.
According to one of the members of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) grouping, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the nominations include Sudan’s first female foreign minister, and a former World Bank economist as finance minister. He reported that Prime Minister Hamdok has approved them along with 12 other new ministers.
The source said that Asmaa Abdallah had been chosen as foreign minister, Adel Ibrahim was selected to lead the Energy and Mining Ministry, and Ibrahim Elbadawi, a former World Bank economist who had been managing director of the Cairo-based think tank Economic Research Forum since 2017, would serve as finance minister. General Jamal Aldin Omar, who was a member of the Transitional Military Council that took over from Bashir, will head the defence portfolio, he added.
Under a power-sharing deal between the military and the civilian opposition, the newly chosen government will lead a three-year transition to elections.
In related news, Prime Minister Hamdok on Tuesday reiterated the importance of removing Sudan from the U.S. list of countries sponsoring terrorism.
During his meeting with the visiting German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, the prime minister called out for removal of Sudan’s name from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism. He said he expects progress in this regard soon.
“The economic challenge is big, but it can be tackled,” said Hamdok, noting that “we need to address the deterioration in the exchange price, stop inflation and restore confidence in the banking sector.”
