Sudan’s first post-war national unity government was sworn in on Thursday at a ceremony attended by President Omar al-Beshir, eight months after a peace deal that ended Africa’s longest-running conflict.
But the new Cabinet, which includes one-time foes from Beshir’s northern regime and southern rebel groups, was swiftly dismissed by the opposition as falling well short of a truly broad-based government.
”It is a continuation of the … government that has been in power since the 1989 coup d’état, with limited improvements,” said Ali Mahmoud Hassanain, deputy chairperson of the opposition Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).
The formation of the Cabinet was delayed by bitter wrangling over the key oil and finance portfolios and the July 30 death in a helicopter crash of southern leader John Garang, who was seen as the guarantor of the peace deal.
However, its establishment is regarded as a major step in the implementation of a January peace agreement that ended 21 years of civil war between north and south in Africa’s largest country.
Twenty-six ministers took the oath at the ceremony on Thursday. Two had already been sworn in on Wednesday, while two ministries destined for the northern opposition National Democratic Alliance have yet to be filled.
The full Cabinet, comprising 30 ministers and 34 ministers of state, is the country’s largest government since independence from Britain in 1956.
It was formed in line with quotas provided by the January 9 comprehensive peace agreement, which grants Beshir’s National Congress Party (NCP) a 52% share of power.
According to the same power-sharing agreement, the former southern rebel group, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) of First Vice-President Salva Kiir, has 28%; the northern opposition 14%; and the southern opposition 6%.
One of the main bones of contention was the distribution of key portfolios, such as energy and finance. Beshir’s party was finally handed both.
The SPLM obtained nine portfolios — including the foreign ministry — but the old northern regime retains the bulk of the key jobs, a pattern that could fuel southern sentiment.
The interim government will remain in place until legislative elections in about four years. A six-year post-war interim rule started in July, at the end of which the south will hold a referendum on self-determination.
However, Hassan al-Turabi, leader of the Islamist opposition Popular Congress party, said it is ”false” to describe the new government as one of national unity.
”The so-called national unity government does not deserve this name,” Turabi, who was freed in June from 15 months in detention, told the Al-Sahafa newspaper.
”All big parties from the extreme right to the extreme left are not taking part and the [NCP], which decided to rule under an appointed rather than an elected majority, has taken up all key ministries and left to its partner [the SPLM] marginal portfolios.”
Turabi, Beshir’s one-time mentor, also warned that if it does not wield real clout, the SPLM may become indifferent to working within a unity government and could move to secede south Sudan.
United States President George Bush on Wednesday hailed the formation of the government and urged Sudan’s leaders to work towards unity.
”All Sudanese can be proud of this significant progress, because it demonstrates the parties’ continued commitment to a common vision of a unified, democratic, prosperous and peaceful Sudan,” he said in a statement. — Sapa-AFP