Sudan appoints first vice president, prime minister

By Mohammed Amin</p> <p>KHARTOUM, Sudan (AA) – Sudanese president has appointed Minister of Defense Awad Ibn Oaf as first vice president of the country, a presidential decree said on Saturday.</p> <p>According to a statement issued by the media office of the presidency, former Governor of Al-Gazeera state Mohamed Tahir Aila has also been appointed as new prime minister of the country.</p> <p>On Friday, Bashir declared a one-year nationwide state of emergency and set up a caretaker government. He replaced all state governors with senior army officials.</p> <p>Addressing the nation, al-Bashir called on the Sudanese parliament to delay constitutional amendments that would allow him to run for another term in the presidential election in 2020.</p> <p>&quot;I announced that the national dialogue will continue and called on the parliament to postpone the constitutional amendments,&quot; Bashir said.</p> <p>Sudan has been rocked by popular protests for the last two months, with demonstrators decrying al-Bashir’s failure to remedy the country’s longstanding economic woes.</p> <p>Sudanese officials say around 31 people have been killed since the protests began in December, although the opposition puts the number at closer to 50.<br> </p> <p>A nation of 40 million people, Sudan has struggled to recover from the loss of three quarters of its oil output — its main source of foreign currency — when South Sudan seceded in 2011.</p> <p><br>