Darfur armed groups to keep cabinet posts in new government, sources say

June 25, 2025 (OMDURMAN) – Ministers from Darfur armed groups that are party to a peace deal are expected to retain their posts in a new Sudanese cabinet, sources familiar with the negotiations said on Wednesday, indicating a concession to the factions.

Prime Minister Kamil Idris, who is forming a new government, was advised to keep the ministers after leaders of the signatory groups expressed discontent over a potential reshuffle, a source close to the prime minister said.

The move comes as Idris takes the first steps to form a government of “independent, non-partisan technocrats” more than a month after being sworn in. On Tuesday, he appointed new ministers of defence and interior.

Mohamed Zakaria, a spokesman for the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), one of the key factions, said in a statement that the groups were “fully committed to the Juba Peace Agreement… including the executive positions established under it.”

Under the reported arrangement, JEM leader Gibril Ibrahim would remain finance minister. Other ministers from the groups, including the heads of the minerals and social welfare ministries, would also stay on, the sources said.

A proposal by Idris to separate economic planning from the finance ministry and create a new national council was rejected by influential figures in the Port Sudan-based government, one source added.

Under the 2020 Juba Peace Agreement, which established a power-sharing arrangement among several armed factions, the signatory movements were granted 25% of the executive government seats.

Idris was sworn in late last month, filling a post that had been vacant since former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok resigned in January 2022.