The ministers of the transitional government in Sudan were sworn in yesterday before the head of the judiciary, Babiker Abbas, the head of the sovereignty council, Lt. Gen. Abdul Fattah al-Burhan, and the prime minister, Abdullah Hamdouk, at the presidential palace in Khartoum.
After the oath was sworn, the Sovereign Council and the government held a joint meeting.
The government of Hamdok consists of 18 ministers, including four women, including Asma Abdullah, who became the first woman to become foreign minister.
The names of the Ministries of Infrastructure and Livestock are likely to be announced in the next two days, as the 20-member transitional government is completed.
The government of Hamdouk is the first government after the ouster of former President Omar al-Bashir, and is due to rule Sudan under a three-year power-sharing agreement, reached last month, between the junta and the forces of freedom and change.
In the next few days, the fledgling government is expected to begin its first task by discussing several issues, including the start of negotiations in Darfur and the two regions (South Kordofan and Blue Nile), and the economic crises that have burdened the country over many years of the ousted president, Omar al-Bashir.
In his speech, during the announcement of the birth of his government, Hamdouk stressed that its priorities are to stop the war and build peace, praising the efforts of the leaders of the armed struggle movements, and congratulating the RUF on their unification at the Juba conference.
The member of the Sovereign Council in Sudan, Shamsuddin Kabbashi, announced that his government is committed to peace with armed movements.
The announcement came after the head of the Sovereign Council, Abdul Fattah al-Burhan, met with the personal envoy of South Sudan's President Salva Kiir.
On the other hand, the member of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, Lt. Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Doklo, stressed the importance of US support to Sudan in the coming period, in order to build economic development, stressing that relations with the United States are a special priority.
Deklo noted that the Sudanese aspire to enjoy economic prosperity, so as to achieve the sustainability of peace and political stability, and stressed the need to remove Sudan from the list of states sponsoring terrorism.