The African Union restored on Friday Sudan’s membership, which was suspended earlier this year when the transitional military council seized power on April 11.
The move had been pending the installation of a civilian government after the ouster of long-term President Omar al-Bashir.
Sudan was suspended after the violent dispersal in June of a main protest site in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum during which opposition medics said dozens of people were killed and amidst a standoff between ruling military men and civilian opposition.
The military and civilian parties and protest groups signed a three-year power-sharing deal in August and Sudan named Abdallah Hamdok as prime minister. On Thursday Hamdok formed the country’s first Cabinet since April, when Bashir was unseated.
The AU Peace and Security Council tweeted its decision, saying it is committed to "support its reconstruction and international mobilization efforts."
Ebba Kalondo, a spokeswoman for the AU Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, told The Associated Press: "The sanctions were lifted."
The Sudanese foreign ministry hailed the decision in a statement on Friday, saying: “(We) use this great occasion to reaffirm our commitment to the goals and objectives of the African Union.”
"The announcement of a new cabinet, including the country's first-ever female foreign minister by Sudan's PM Abdalla Hamdok, marks the beginning of a new era and a fitting tribute to the determination of the Sudanese people for a new Sudan," Moussa Faki Mahamat, head of the AU commission, said Thursday.
