KHARTOUM, Sudan 

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok on Sunday appointed former rebel leader Mini Arko Minawi as the governor of the western Darfur region, according to a Cabinet statement.

Minawi was picked up as the Darfur governor under the Juba peace agreement, the statement said.

Minawi, the leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), said in a tweet after his appointment that he will work with other partners to honestly implement the peace agreement.

In August 2020, the Sudanese government signed a peace agreement in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, with the rebel coalition of the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) to end years of conflict in the Darfur region and South Kordofan, and the Blue Nile states.