South Sudan has appointed Awut Deng Acuil to chair the governing council of the University of Bahr El-Ghazal.
Acuil, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation from August 2019 until March 2020 and the current Minister of General Education and Instructions, became the first woman to be appointed to chair the governing body of a university.
Her appointment was announced in a presidential decree read on the national broadcaster, the South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation.
The university was established in 1991, when South Sudan was still part of Sudan. The country gained its independence in 2011
Acuil was also the first woman to serve as South Sudan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
She relinquished the post following the appointment of a unity government in February to end the conflict between rival groups in South Sudan.