Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir announced on Tuesday that former southern rebels and the ruling party agreed on the formation of a new power-sharing government.

"Vast political consultations and a national dialogue have been conducted between the two sides of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), the (ruling) National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), along with a number of other Sudanese political parties on the formation of the national unity government," al-Bashir said in a statement on TV. It was earlier expected that the new Sudanese government would be agreed upon by the end of last week.

But the NCP and SPLM have reportedly been at odds over who would charge the ministry of energy and mining, posing an obstacle to the formation of the transitional government.

At a press conference prior to the Sudanese president's statement, Deputy Chairman of the NCP Nafi'a Ali Nafi'a said the NCP would keep the portfolio of the critical energy ministry in the oil producing country.

The Sudanese government and the SPLM reached a comprehensive peace deal in January, ending 21 years of civil war between the north and south which killed more than two million people in the country.
 
(Xinhua News Agency September 21, 2005)