Dakar - Senegal's newly elected President Macky Sall has named his first
government, handing the finance ministry post to former banker Amadou
Kane and the culture and tourism ministry post to music star Youssou
Ndour, state television reported late on Wednesday.
The pair are
among a host of newcomers to the cabinet, which Sall has trimmed down to
25 posts, from about 40 under his predecessor Abdoulaye Wade.
The
new government comes three days after Sall, a former prime minister
under Wade, was sworn in and 24 hours after he named Abdoul Mbaye, a
former banker without party affiliation, as the new prime minister.
Grammy
Award-winning Ndour put his singing career on hold to try and challenge
Wade in the election earlier this year, but Senegal's legal body
blocked him from standing. Ndour backed Wade's rivals.
Kane
previously headed up BICIS, the Senegalese arm of BNP Paribas. Alioune
Badara Cisse, a close ally of Sall, is the new foreign minister, state
television reported.
Parties allied to Moustapha Niasse and
Idrissa Seck, who also were former prime ministers under Wade but threw
their weight behind Sall, have also been given several posts.
Sall,
50, ran for a seven-year mandate but has pledged to reduce the
presidential term to five years and to stick to an existing two-term
limit.
- Reuters