Bashir: Sudanese first VP leaves post

Sudanese First Vice-President Ali Othman Taha is leaving his post in the new government formation, which is expected to be announced shortly, ending 15 years of service in this position, President Omar Bashir said Saturday. Bashir, in a speech marking 500 years on the establishment of the first Islamic state in Sudan, denied differences within his ruling party. He said the current ministers who left the cabinet have done so voluntarily. "Taha relinquished his post voluntarily ...," he said. He said the new government would continue building a solid Islamic state. Taha, one of the leading Islamic Movement leaders in Sudan, was appointed first vice-president in 1998 in the wake of the death first vice-president Al-Zubair Mohammad Saleh, who was killed in a helicopter crash. Taha was appointed as vice-president in the wake of the peace agreement that was signed with the South in 2005, a deal that appointed south Sudan leader as first vice-president. But Taha was renamed as first vice-president following the separation of the south in 2011. Bashir is expected to announce the new government later tonight or tomorrow morning.