Sudan’s Post-Bashir Sovereignty Council Appoints Government

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok on Thursday evening announced most of the names of people who will serve in his cabinet as part of the Sovereignty Council, which is set to run the country for the next three years until elections are held. “Today, we start a new phase in our history…. We are seeking the establishment of a national project and the restructure of the Sudanese state,” Hamdok, a consensus candidate to lead the provisional council, said at an evening news conference in Khartoum. The council grew out of a volatile period that followed the army’s April overthrow of longtime strongman Omar al-Bashir. Bashir was removed in the wake of widespread unrest that began late last year as popular protests against the cost of living, but protest and opposition leaders began turning their wrath against the generals when it became clear that democracy was not necessarily on the menu. Ethiopian and Arab League mediators brought the sides together as part of a power-sharing agreement in July after an interim period that occasionally turned violent.