PORT SUDAN, Sudan, Nov 4, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Sudan's army leader Abdel Fattah
al-Burhan, at war with paramilitaries, has announced a cabinet reshuffle that
replaces four ministers including those for foreign affairs and the media.

The late Sunday announcement comes with the northeast African country gripped
by the world's worst displacement crisis, threatened by famine and desperate
for aid, according to the UN.

In a post on its official Facebook page, Sudan's ruling sovereignty council
said Burhan had approved replacement of the ministers of foreign affairs, the
media, religious affairs and trade.

The civil war that began in April 2023 pits Burhan's military against the
Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries under the command of his former
deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

Since then, the army-aligned Sudanese government has been operating from the
eastern city of Port Sudan, which has largely remained shielded from the
violence.

But the Sudanese state "is completely absent from the scene" in all sectors,
economist Haitham Fathy told AFP earlier this year.

The council did not disclose reasons behind the reshuffle but it coincides
with rising violence in al-Jazira, south of the capital Khartoum, and North
Darfur in Sudan's far west bordering Chad.

On Friday the spokesman for United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said he
condemned attacks by paramilitaries in al-Jazira, after the United States
made a similar call over the violence against civilians.

Among the key government changes, Ambassador Ali Youssef al-Sharif, a retired
diplomat who previously served as Sudan's ambassador to China and South
Africa, was appointed foreign minister.
He replaces Hussein Awad Ali who had held the role for seven months.

Journalist and TV presenter Khalid Ali Aleisir, based in London, was named
minister of culture and media.

The reshuffle also saw Omar Banfir assigned to the trade ministry and Omar
Bakhit appointed to the ministry of religious affairs.

Over the past two weeks, the RSF increased attacks on civilians in al-Jazira
following the army's announcement that an RSF commander had defected.

According to an AFP tally based on medical and activist sources, at least 200
people were killed in al-Jazira last month alone. The UN reports that the
violence has forced around 120,000 people from their homes.

In total, Sudan hosts more than 11 million displaced people, while another
3.1 million are now sheltering beyond its borders, according to the
International Organization for Migration.