Sudanese president swears in new cabinet and governors
June 7, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s new cabinet and states’ governors on Sunday have taken the oath of office in front of president Omer al-Bashir, his two deputies and the chief justice.
The state minister of information, Yasir Youssef, said the president instructed the state’s ministers to double their efforts to lead the reform in the upcoming period, urging them to increase production and to focus on the economic issues.
He asked the ministers to pay special attention to the vulnerable segments of the society and to maintain security and stability across the country, directing them to promote the foreign relations and improve living conditions of the Sudanese people.
According to Youssef, Bashir also instructed the 18 governors to go to their states as of Monday in order to carry out their executive duties and form their local governments.
Meanwhile, the presidential assistants including Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid, Musa Mohamed Ahmed, Jalal Youssef al-Digair and Abdel-Rahman al-Sadiq al-Mahdi also took the oath of office in the presence of the chief justice.
However, Bashir’s newly appointed first assistant al-Hassan al-Mirghani did not take the oath due to his presence outside the capital, Khartoum.
Al-Digair told reporters that the government has several priorities including achieving peace and security, improving social and economic conditions, promoting regional and international ties and continuing national dialogue to resolve Sudan’s basic problems.
He pointed that holding dialogue with all political forces would be among the top priorities in the coming period.
The foreign minister, Ibrahim Ghandour, for his part, said that all ministers would carry out the president’s directives regarding issues of establishing security and improving the economy besides promoting foreign relations.
He said that he would continue to work to improve foreign ties on the basis of parity, mutual interests and non-interference in the internal affairs of other nations, describing formation of the government as the swiftest in Sudan’s history which reflects the keenness of the leadership not to create any constitutional vacuum.
Ghandour further thanked the president on behalf of the federal ministers for entrusting them with the ministerial posts.
The government official spokesperson and minister of information, Ahmed Bilal Osman, described the cabinet as the largest in Sudan’s history, saying that 20 political parties joined the government on both federal and states levels.
He said the new government would work in harmony under the leadership of Bashir, adding that all ministers took off their partisan dresses and wore the home country’s robe.
Osman added the current year would devoted for the media, expecting that suspension of the four newspapers will be lifted within the coming few days.
Late last month, the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) seized copies of 10 newspapers from the printing press and suspended 4 of them indefinitely without giving reasons.
(ST)