Abstract

Ministers and State Ministers. He is yet to work out his suite of advisors. Given the turbulent years that Sudan has gone through in its recent past, it may be worthwhile to see if Al-Bashir’s post-election cabinet reflects these challenges. The years 2001 and 2002 witnessed the publication of the seminal work, ‘The Black Book: Imbalance of Power and Wealth in Sudan’. The publication ushered in its 5:95% thesis, namely that since its independence, Sudan has been ruled by 5% of its Northern Region population and that within the Northern Region, power has been controlled by a mere three elite ethnic groups. The Black Book traced top government and semi-government officials, sourcing them to the regions of their prime ethnic groups to prove its point. In the following analysis, let us see whether Al-Bashir has learnt anything from the Black Book. I will restrict my exercise to full Ministers as my information about State Ministers is not complete. Even here, we have to assume parity between Minsters for Chickens, Rabbits and Goats and Ministers for Defence, Oil and Finance. In the absence of a reliable census, I will proceed as though regional distribution of Sudan’s population has remained the same since publication of the Black Book.