Khartoum — The Chairman of the Transitional Military Council (TMC), Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, took the Oath of Office as Chairman of Sudan's new Sovereign Council before Chief Justice, Abbas Babiker, in Khartoum this morning. The members of the new Sovereign Council were sworn-in this afternoon, and held their first meeting immediately afterwards.
El Burhan, who has led the TMC since the overthrow of the 30-year Al Bashir regime in April, and the other four military and six civilian members of the Sovereign Council assume their positions in terms of the power-sharing agreement signed on Saturday between the TMC) and Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC).
Besides El Burhan, Mohamed Hamdan 'Hemeti', Shamseldin Kabashi, Yasser Abdulrahman El Atta, and Ibrahim Jaber will represent the military on the Council.
The five civilian nominees are Aisha Mousa of the National Gathering Initiative, Mohamed El Faki of the Unionist Rally, Siddig Tawir of the National Consensus Forces, Hasan Sheikh of Sudan Call, and Mohamed El Taayshi of the Sudanese Professionals Association, and chose Rajaa Abdelmaseeh, a Coptic Christian woman.
First meeting
After the swearing-in ceremony, the newly-obligated Sovereign Council then held its first official meeting under the chairmanship of El Burhan.
Transitional period
The final documents heralding the three-year transitional period for Sudan and galvanising the political agreement reached between the Transition Military Council (TMC) and Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) and the Constitutional Declaration regarding the Transitional Authority, were signed amid much celebration on Saturday.