Women given important role in first Sudan Cabinet since removal of Bashir

Sudan’s newly appointed prime minister announced his Cabinet on Thursday, the first since the military’s ouster of autocratic former President Omar Bashir in April, and appointees include Sudan’s first woman foreign minister and a former World Bank economist.

The Cabinet is part of a powersharing 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 Abdalla Hamdok said in a news conference in the capital, Khartoum, on Thursday the Cabinet will include at least three women, including Asmaa Abdalla as the first woman to serve as foreign minister in Sudanese history.

He also picked Ibrahim Elbadawi, 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 Defense and Interior Ministers. The military has nominated Lt. Gen. Gamal Omar as defense minister and Idriss Al-Traifi as interior minister. “

The deal, signed earlier this month, created a joint militarycivilian Sovereign Council to rule for a little over three years until elections can be held.

The military ousted Bashir, who came to power after a military coup in 1989, in April after months of mass protests against his three-decade-rule.