Newly-appointed Sudanese Prime Minister Bakri Hassan Saleh has taken oath of office on Thursday.

After the swearing-in ceremony in Khartoum, Mr Saleh vowed to implement recommendations of the national dialogue and work towards resolving the Sudanese crisis.

“I will honestly implement the recommendations of the national dialogue and I will focus on the improvement of the living conditions of the Sudanese people, bringing peace and stability to the country” he said.

The national dialogue that ended in December saw the adoption of more than 900 recommendations geared towards political and socio-economic reforms including ending the civil war, allowing political freedoms, fighting against poverty and revitalising national identity.

The talks were held between government and some opposition parties but were boycotted by leading opposition groups and rebel movements.

President Omar Al-Bashir named his first vice president Mr Saleh as prime minister, a post he reinstated 28 years after abolishing it.

Mr Saleh was endorsed as the country’s first premier since 1989, when Mr Bashir came to power in a coup, during the ruling National Congress Party’s (NCP) meeting on Wednesday. He will now hold both the vice president and prime minister positions.

“The party leadership meeting chaired by President Bashir endorsed the nomination of Bakri Hassan Saleh as prime minister and his retention of the post of first vice president,” NCP’s deputy leader Ibrahim Mahmoud said Wednesday, adding that after taking oath of office he will immediately “engage in wide consultations to name his Cabinet.”

Sudan’s Constitution was amended in December to create the post of the prime minister at the end of a year-long national dialogue in which opposition parties had demand it be reinstated as a measure to check the president’s powers.

A former army general and long-time ally of President Bashir, Mr Saleh was part of the coup that brought the Sudanese leader into power nearly three decades ago.

Mr Saleh, 68, has been part of Sudan’s Cabinet since holding ministerial positions such as defence and interior. He has also been the chief of the National Security and Intelligence Service and a presidential advisor on security.

He was appointed to the post of first vice president in 2013.