CAR's new PM announces cabinet
2005-06-20 13:14
Bangui - Central African Republic's (CAR) new prime minister has named members of a former ruling party, defeated presidential candidates and the son of a former military dictator to his cabinet, hoping to foster national reconciliation in this poor and coup-prone nation.
Prime Minister Elie Dote announced the 27-member team late on Sunday.
Jean-Paul Ngoupande and Charles Massi, both unsuccessful candidates in the March elections who asked their supporters to vote for President Francois Bozize in the runoff, were named respectively foreign affairs minister and transport, equipment and civil aviation minister.
Bozize will head the country's defence ministry while Theodore Dabanga, former director general of the Central African Republic Commercial Bank, is finance minister.
Dote's team has 20 newcomers, most of them close to Bozize but two are members of the former ruling party of President Ange-Felix Patasse. Desire Kolingba, son of former military ruler Andre Kolingba, was appointed minister of youth and culture.
Bozize, a military strongman who seized power in a March 2003 coup, toppling Patasse, was elected president last month.
Many citizens who have suffered decades of army revolts since the tiny nation of 3.6 million gained independence from France in 1960 hope that as a military man, Bozize can deliver on his election promises of bringing security.
While the landlocked Central African nation is rich in gold, diamonds and other minerals, its governments have been chronically cash-poor and unable to meet payrolls of the military and civil servants.
- AP