One of two women appointed to Sudan's newly created Sovereign Council on Wednesday said she will uphold the rights of all Sudanese people.
Raja Nichola Abdulmessih, the only Christian on the 11-member council, said all Sudanese deserve to have their constitutional rights protected.
"Our rights are stipulated and enshrined in the constitution. We just need to practice and demand these rights as any Sudanese citizen, regardless of our religion, our affiliation, our race or color. We are just Sudanese citizens and Christian," she told South Sudan in Focus.
Abdulmessih said the Sovereign Council's first priority should be silencing the guns across the country.
"We shall try to rebuild our economy, we shall begin to stop all the armed movements and work for peace and justice for all Sudanese," Abdulmessih told VOA.
She urged revolutionaries across Sudan to be patient as the new, transitional government is formed.
"What happened in 30 years cannot be rebuilt in three years. But we shall try our best to do whatever we can. We shall be holding a lot of meetings with our head of the council and we hope things shall work out," Abdulmessih told VOA.
Sudan's new Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok also was sworn in Wednesday.
Hamdok vowed that achieving peace and solving the country's economic crisis would be his top priorities.