South Sudan Appoints First Female To Head University

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has for the first time appointed a woman to chair the governing body of a university.

The current Minister of General Education and Instructions, Awut Deng Achuil, will chair the council of the University of Bahr El-Ghazal.

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

Achuil 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 conflict between rival groups in South Sudan.