Sudan’s newly-appointed PM unveils cabinet lineup

KHARTOUM (AA) – Newly-appointed Sudanese Prime Minister Mohamed Tahir Ayala officially unveiled a new cabinet lineup on Wednesday. </p> <p>At a press conference in Khartoum, he announced the names of several cabinet members, including Interior Minister Bushara Jumaa Aror; Foreign Minister Dardairi Mohamed Ahmed; Information Minister Hassan Ismail; Trade Minister Hamid Mumtaz; and Presidential Affairs Minister Fadl Abdullah Fadl.</p> <p>Last month, amid ongoing anti-regime demonstrations, President Omar al-Bashir declared a one-year nationwide state of emergency.</p> <p>He also announced plans to unveil a new caretaker government and replaced several regional governors with senior army officials.</p> <p>Al-Bashir had also called on parliament to postpone ratification of constitutional changes, which — if approved — would have allowed him to run for another term in office in 2020 elections.</p> <p>Shortly afterward, al-Bashir appointed Defense Minister Awad ibn Oaf as the country’s first-ever vice president.</p> <p>For the last two months, Sudan has been rocked by popular protests, with demonstrators decrying al-Bashir’s seeming failure to remedy the country’s chronic economic woes.</p> <p>A nation of 40 million, Sudan has struggled to recover from the loss of some three quarters of its oil output — its main source of foreign currency — since the 2011 secession of South Sudan.