The ruling coalition and peace partners in Sudan have agreed to share the federal ministries in the government headed by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.
This decision would end the dispute over naming the seven ministries that will be headed by figures named by the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF), as stipulated in the Juba Peace Agreement signed in Oct. 2020.
The Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) coalition is expected to complete naming its candidates for the ministry and present it to Hamdok next week.
Under the peace agreement signed by the Sudanese government and several armed groups affiliated with the SRF, both sides will share power.
It stipulates that the armed movements will be granted 25 percent representation in the cabinet, two portfolios (defense and interior) to be headed by the military component, 17 seats for the FFC and three seats were agreed to be allocated to the Transitional Sovereign Council while the Transitional Legislative Council was granted 75 percent representation.
Therefore, the new cabinet is expected to include 26 ministries instead of 20.
A source from the ruling FFC coalition told Asharq Al-Awsat on Thursday that the three parties (the FFC, the SRF and the military component) agreed to name the ministries they will head, following lengthy negotiations.
The SRF received the ministries of finance and economy, urban development, social welfare, education, federal government, livestock and fisheries, and the energy and minerals, he revealed, noting that it did not yet nominate its candidates for these seven ministries.
It adhered to the ministries of agriculture and investment, the source said, explaining that the FFC considered the economic ministries one package that can’t be ruled by only one party, which led to the delay in reaching an agreement.
Meanwhile, a conflict is expected between the FFC and the National Umma Party, which had announced freezing its membership in the coalition institutions despite its participation in all the coalition meetings.
Cabinet sources have revealed that the Umma Party is demanding six of the 17 FFC seats.