Sudan’s protest umbrella group, the Alliance for Freedom and Change, agreed on Thursday to nominate veteran economist Abdalla Hamdok as prime minister of the three-year transitional government.
Hamdok is expected to be formally appointed on August 20 and take a constitutional oath the following day.
Hamdok was deputy executive secretary of the United Nations’ Economic Commission for Africa (UNCEA) from 2011 until October last year when he stepped down.
The Sudanese Professionals Association, one of the major groups within the protest movement, welcomed Hamdok’s nomination and pledged to support him.
“We wish Dr. Abdalla Hamdok success in one of the hardest periods in the history of our country and people, a period that the revolutionary Sudanese people are looking forward to and observing with hopefulness,” the SPA said in a statement.
Hamdok, a senior official in the Ministry of Finance during the 1980s, was nominated to be Finance minister in September 2018 by Omar al-Bashir but he turned down the offer.
Hamdok has also previously worked at Deloitte & Touche, the International Labour Organisation and the African Development Bank.
Earlier this month, the transitional military council and protest leaders signed a constitutional declaration, which opened up a path for a pledged transition to civilian rule following months of sustained civilian protests.
A formal signing of the agreement, concerning the political and constitutional declarations during the transitional period, is scheduled for Saturday.
