[2] Hassan Abdallah al-Turabi was the speaker from 1996 until he stripped of the post in December 1999, and placed under arrest after a falling out with President Omar al-Bashir.

Sudan was previously in a transitional period following the signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) on 9 January 2005 that officially ended the civil war between the Sudanese Government (based in Khartoum) and the southern-based Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) rebel group.

The National Assembly consisted of 450 appointed members who represent the government, former rebels, and other opposition political parties.

[18] The seat of the National Assembly is Omdurman, immediately north-west of the country's capital Khartoum.

The building was designed in the style of brutalist architecture by the Romanian architect Cezar Lăzărescu and completed in 1978.