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

Awut Deng Achuil, currently the Minister of General Education and Instructions, 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

Ms 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 the conflict between rival groups in South Sudan.