SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Reuters - Sudan forms first Cabinet since fall of Bashir – prime minister

5/9/19: Reuters - Sudan forms first Cabinet since fall of Bashir – prime minister, Khalid Abdelaziz

 Reuters reports that Sudan’s prime minister Abdalla Hamdok has formed Sudan’s first Cabinet since Omar Al-Bashir’s overthrow.

 The Cabinet of 18 includes four women, among them Asmaa Abdalla, Sudan’s first female foreign minister.

 Former World Bank economist Ibrahim Elbadawi is the finance minister, FFC leader Madani Abbas Madani is the minister of industry and trade, and General Jamal Omar is appointed defence minister.

 Among the challenges facing Hamdok’s government are securing funding to cover import bills, removing Sudan from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism, and slashing military spending.

 Hamdok re-iterated that the “top priority of the transitional period is to stop war and to build sustainable peace,” with a committee to establish a framework for a Peace Commission in the pipeline.

 Hamdok said that Sudan’s rebel groups are “an integral part of the revolution and the current climate provides a great chance to reach understandings on peace.”