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December 8, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – The ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in Sudan endorsed the long awaited cabinet reshuffle that was promised to be one that satisfies the party and the country’s desire for an overhaul in the country’s leadership.

Sudanese president Omer Al-Bashir speaks during a press conference in Khartoum on 22 September 2013 (Photo ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP/Getty Images)

Nafie Ali Nafie, who lost his posts of the NCP’s Vice Chairmanship and president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir’s assistant, confirmed reports that the presidential affairs minister Lieutenant General Bakri Hassan Saleh was promoted to become Sudan’s 1st Vice President. The foreign ministry Undersecretary Salah Wansi replaced Saleh.

The NCP Secretary of External Relations Ibrahim Ghandour took over from Nafie in both roles.

Foreign minister Ali Karti, Minerals minister Kamal Abdel-Latif retained their posts in the new cabinet. It was not clear if defence minister Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein will remain in his position.

The minister of Federal Government Hasabu Mohamed Abdel-Rahman was tapped to become the 2nd vice-president which was held by Al-Haj Adam Youssef who defected from the opposition Popular Congress Party (PCP).

Abdel-Rahman is better known for his role as the commissioner of the Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) during the height of the conflict in Sudan’s western region of Darfur.

The 1st VP post was long held by Ali Osman Mohamed Taha who announced this week that he preempted the reshuffle and handed over his resignation to allow for change and new blood. Taha does not appear to have been assigned a new role in the government contrary to speculations that said that he would become the parliament speaker.

Bashir who was addressing a rally of supporters in the town of Qura in north Khartoum today swore three times that Taha’s resignation was not a result of any conflict and that the reshuffle should not be read as an indication of splits within the government ranks as some “liars” have asserted.

Taha is credited with engineering the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which ended Sudan’s civil war between north and south that lasted for more than two decades.

He was also the main driver behind the ouster of Hassan Al-Turabi who orchestrated the 1989 coup that was on the face of it led by Bashir.

Turabi later formed the PCP and became the fiercest critic of Bashir’s government.

Apart from Taha, the new cabinet saw the departure of the veteran Oil minister Awad Al-Jaz who was replaced by the head of Sudan’s Railway Commission Makawi Awad. The controversial Finance minister Ali Mahmoud Abdel-Rasool lost his post to the deputy governor of the central bank Badr Al-Deen Mahmoud.

The powerful Electricity and Water Resources minister Osama Abdullah also left the cabinet in favour of Mu’ataz Musa who was the head of the projects department at the ministry.

The interior minister Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid was moved over to head the Agriculture ministry instead of Abdel-Haleem Ismail Al-Muaafi. Abdel-Wahid Youssef was appointed as the new Interior minister.

The shakeup also brought Tahani Abdullah as the Telecommunications minister and Sumaya Abu-Kashawa as Higher Education minister.

Al-Tayeb Hassan Badawi was named minister of Culture and Al-Sameeh Al-Sideeg as minister of Industry.

In the legislative branch, al-Fatih Ezz al-Deen replaced Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Tahir as speaker with Essa Bushra as his deputy.

The shake-up has been anticipated since earlier this year amidst deep divisions within the ruling party in the wake of a coup attempt staged last year by NCP supporters and Islamists in the military.

Another crisis shook the NCP when more than 30 of its top members including the party’s ex-head of its parliamentary caucus Ghazi Salah Al-Deen Al-Attabani presented a memo to president Bashir last September criticizing the government’s decision to remove subsidies on fuel and other basic commodities, saying it "harshly" impacted Sudanese citizens.

They chided the government for the excessive violence used against protesters who took the streets against the subsidies cut and called for deep political and economic reforms.

They also urged Bashir to form a mechanism for national reconciliation comprised of various political forces and assign the economic dossier to a professional national economic team.

"The legitimacy of your rule has never been at stake like it is today" they said in their letter to Bashir which was seen as a direct challenge to the president who is now the country’s longest serving leader.

Bashir formed a committee headed by national assembly speaker Ibrahim Al-Tahir to query those whose names appeared in the petition that was circulated publicly.

The commission of inquiry recommended dismissing three members including Attabani and temporarily suspending nine others. The decision was endorsed by the NCP leadership council and the Shura (consultative) council.

Al-Attabani and others later declared his intention to leave the party and form a new one that would "bring new hope to Sudan".

Besides the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and several smaller parties, no other major opposition parties are expected to join the new cabinet.
(ST)