Sudanese parties differ about nomination of new ministers

Sudan's Umma Party has accused other party members of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) of being far from neutral with regard to the formation of a new Council of Ministers. Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok met with South Sudanese mediator Tut Galuak yesterday.

The National Umma Party (NUP) announced in a statement yesterday that the work of its Communication Committee with the FFC Central Council has been suspended.

The party, headed by Gen Fadlallah Burma (Retd) following the death of El Sadig El Mahdi in November last year, said that they and the Civil Forces Association categorically reject the approach of the FFC concerning the nominations of a number of new ministers.

The approach is far too partisan and excludes too many other parties, the statement said.

The NUP strongly criticised the Sudanese Congress Party, the Unionist Gathering, and the Arab Socialist Baath Party for dominating the FFC coalition. They “control the nomination process”, and “proposed two persons for the new ministerial formation at the expense of competence”.

The party called for a conference “to ensure the participation of all signatories to the Declaration of Freedom and Change in the formation of the Council of Ministers and the Legislative Council”.

Peace agreement

PM Hamdok has stressed the need for the formation of the next government to be in accordance with the conditions stipulated in the 2019 Constitutional Document. The nominees should be selected on the basis of their competences and qualifications.

He emphasised that for each ministerial post, the names of three candidates should be submitted, so that the best one can be appointed, the media office of the Council of Ministers reported in a statement on Sunday.

The PM said he regrets that the slow implementation of the Juba Peace Agreement, signed on October 3 last year, directly affects the Sudanese population, especially in the conflict-affected regions in the country.

Tut Galuak, Security Advisor to the South Sudanese president and chair of the team that mediated the Sudanese peace talks in the past two years, arrived in Khartoum last week for an update on the implementation of the peace accord.

He told reporters in Khartoum after his meeting with Hamdok on Sunday that he will continue to meet with “all peace process partners, to finish the final files”.