Asma Mohamed Abdalla became Sudan’s first female Minister of Foreign Affairs in early September 2019 in Sudan’s Transitional Cabinet. Previously she had served as ambassador and worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before being dismissed after the 1989 coup d’état which brought Omar Al-Bashir to power. She left Sudan and lived in exile, doing work for ISESCO and UNICEF amongst other organizations. During the 2018–19 Sudanese protests‎, Abdalla joined the Forces of Freedom and Change.