Sudan has a new government
As expected, the Prime Minister of Sudan, Abdullah Hamdok, has appointed the new government to face this second stage of transition. Following last October's agreements between the government and rebel groups, one of Hamdok's priorities, it was necessary to include some of his representatives in a new cabinet. Hamdok dissolved his government on Sunday and has already presented the new one.
This new government is made up of 25 people, almost all of them proposed by the armed groups that signed the peace agreement and the political parties, three of them are independent and a fourth has been nominated by civil society. Five of the previous government's ministers have retained their portfolios: Defence Minister Yassim Ibrahim, Justice Minister Nasr al-Din Abdel Bari, Water Resources Minister Yasser Abbas, Religious Affairs Minister Nasr al-Din Mufre and Higher Education Minister Intisar Saqairon.
According to the agreements at least 25 per cent of the government was to be drawn from rebel groups, and there was also a quota allocated to women, although this has not been met. There are only four women in the new Cabinet, one of them appointed by one of the armed groups. They will head the Ministry of Transport, the Federal Government, the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which will be headed by Maryam al-Sadiq al-Mahdi, daughter of former Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi.
The most represented party is the Ummah party, with four portfolios. While the Sudan Congress Party, the military quota - Interior and Defence - the Justice and Equality Movement, and the Unionist Alliance will each have two. One of the appointments of the Justice and Equality Movement, which was linked to Omar al-Bashir, has been controversial. This would be Gibril Ibrahim, in charge of Finance and Economic Planning, a key area for the country's future, but one that many analysts question whether he is capable of handling with solvency.
In addition to the woman in charge of the Ministry of the Federal Government and the man in charge of the Ministry of Finance, the ministries to be occupied by the rebel groups will be the following: Ministry of Mineral Resources, with Mohamed Bashir Abu Nemou of the Sudan Liberation Movement - Minnawi; the Ministry of Livestock, with Hafiz Ahmed Saleh Abdel Nabi of the Revolutionary Forces Front; the Ministry of Urban Development, with Abdallah Yahia of the Sudan Liberation Forces Alliance; and, finally, the Ministry of Social Development, with Motasim Ahmed Saleh, who, like the Minister of Finance, belongs to the Justice and Equality Movement.
This new government must lead within 36 months to elections. During this time, it must undertake a series of vital reforms, especially in the economic sphere. The country is mired in an economic crisis that has sparked a new wave of protests in Khartoum. Sudan is working to cancel its $70 billion debt, which is putting a huge squeeze on the economy. Hamdok has also announced that the International Development Agency intends to invest $1.7 billion in the country.
Hamdok also intends to bring more rebel groups into the peace accords, as neither the Sudan People's Liberation Movement nor the Sudan Liberation Movement joined the agreement at the time. Continuing negotiations is another of the objectives set for this new stage. On the economic front, the government will try to stimulate its oil sector, with an investment of 300 million dollars to double its production. Other sectors to which it will pay special attention include agriculture and electricity. "We are close to turning the economic situation around," the prime minister said optimistically. The Transitional Partners Council is expected to give the go-ahead to the new government on Tuesday, and the reforms can get underway.
