Sudan to announce consensus government next month

By Mohammed Amin

KHARTOUM, Sudan

Sudan is set to announce a new national government early next month including the new prime minister post, a senior official disclosed on Thursday.

The Sudanese presidential assistant Ibrahim Mahmoud said in a press conference in Khartoum that President Omar al-Bashir will issue a decree slated for Jan. 10 to declare the new government once the arrangements are finalized.

The ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and the political parties participating in national dialogue efforts have engaged in broad-based consultations to name the new prime minister and the entire cabinet, Mahmoud said.

He called on the opposition to join the new government. “The doors are still open for the boycotters to join the national consensus government,” he said.

Rights and freedoms would be respected during the birth of the new government, Mahmoud reassured.

Sudan’s parliament on Wednesday endorsed a raft of constitutional amendments, one of which revives the country’s prime ministerial post for the first time since President al-Bashir came to power after a 1989 coup.

The constitutional changes give the president more power, including authority to appoint cabinet ministers.

The amendments create more than 100 new assembly seats to allow for greater parliamentary representation by opposition parties and rebel groups that took part in Sudan’s recent national dialogue.

The national dialogue concluded in October with promises by al-Bashir that a government of "national consensus" would be established, a prime ministerial post created, and constitutional amendments passed.