Bryant swears in cabinet
2004-03-24 09:49
Monrovia, Liberia - Liberia's transitional leader Gyude Bryant swore in this country's new 21-member Cabinet on Tuesday, calling for transparency in government and urging ministers to help secure a fragile peace.
"We have a mandate and that mandate is to bring peace to our people, to bring relief to our people and to ensure that we renew their hope and strengthen their resilience," Bryant said to ministers before they took the oath of office during a ceremony in Monrovia.
"Our people have been deprived for too long, they have suffered for too long... I urge you to give it your very best."
Bryant took charge of a transitional administration in October, after an August peace deal brought an end to a three years of civil war and former President Charles Taylor left to go into exile in Nigeria.
About 12 000 UN peacekeepers are in this West African nation helping to enforce the peace deal. Bryant's government is expected to hold elections in 2005.
Many of the cabinet members sworn in on Tuesday have held temporary posts in government since the transitional administration was established. They represent different ethnic groups as well as the nation's two rebel factions.
- SAPA