Sudan names five more ministers as cabinet takes shape

Sudanese Prime Minister Kamil Idris on Friday appointed five new ministers as part of his newly announced Government of Hope, bringing the number of named cabinet members to 10, according to Sudan’s state news agency SUNA.

The latest appointments include: Mohamed Kortkila Salih as Minister of Federal Governance and Rural Development, Abdullah Mohamed Daraf as Minister of Justice, Gibril Ibrahim Minister of Finance, Mahasen Ali Yaqoub as Minister of Industry and Trade, and Bashir Haroun Abdel Karim Abdallah as Minister of Religious Affairs and Endowments.

These appointments follow two earlier rounds in which Idris named ministers for agriculture and irrigation, higher education and scientific research, health, defense, and interior.

Idris first unveiled the outline of his Government of Hope on June 19, announcing plans for a 22-ministry cabinet after dissolving the previous government earlier in the month.

Political reshuffle

He was sworn in as prime minister on May 31 before the head of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, following a constitutional decree issued by Burhan on May 19 appointing him to the post.

A politician and expert in international law, Idris holds a PhD from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva and was a candidate in Sudan’s 2010 presidential election.

For several years, Sudan’s ministries have been managed through a mix of acting ministers and appointees dating back to the 2021 power-sharing arrangement between civilians and the military.

The recent political reshuffle comes as Sudan remains mired in a civil war that began on April 15, 2023, between the national army led by Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces headed by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

More than 20,000 people have been killed and 15 million displaced, according to the UN and local authorities. Research from US scholars, however, estimates the death toll at around 130,000.