The ruling coalition and peace partners in Sudan have exceeded the time limit stipulated in the Juba Peace Agreement to form the new government by two weeks.
This delay has prompted Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok to call on all parties to speed up the government formation and avoid a political vacuum in the country.
He urged the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) and the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) to scrutinize the candidates swiftly while adhering to the standards of competence, qualification, experience, integrity, and observance of the equitable participation of women.
“The political vacuum caused by the delay in announcing the new government has contributed to the deterioration and the exacerbation of the living, economic and security conditions.”
Hamdok’s remarks were in reference to the renewed tribal conflicts in Darfur, which led to dozens of casualties.
Under the peace agreement signed by the Sudanese government and several armed groups affiliated with the SRF in Oct. 2020, 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.
Meanwhile, leaders from the ruling FFC coalition said that during last week’s meeting with Hamdok, parties agreed to form the government one week, given the challenges faced by the country.
Leading member in the Unionist Alliance Jaafar Hassan, for his part, strongly denied that the FFC was behind the delay in the new government formation.
He told Asharq Al-Awsat that his alliance had already completed naming its candidates for the ministries and was waiting for approval by its Central Council.
Hassan pointed out that FFC was waiting for the National Umma Party’s list of candidates to present a unified list for the Premier to choose among these candidates, according to the agreed upon criteria.
Cabinet sources have revealed that the Umma Party is demanding six of the 17 FFC seats.
