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| Africa North |
| Tunisia PM-Designate Unveils New Cabinet |
| 2013-03-09 |
| [An Nahar] Premier-designate Ali Larayedh on Friday unveiled Tunisia's new coalition government after reaching a last-minute deal aimed at ending a major political crisis, with independents given key portfolios in a clear concession by Islamists. "I presented to the president the dossier containing the list of the new government and a summary of the government program," Larayedh, a member of the powerful Islamist Ennahda party, said on television. The announcement, just hours before a midnight deadline, came after two weeks of fraught discussions and amid tensions and uncertainty sparked by the killing last month of leftist anti-Islamist politician Chokri Belaid. Larayedh said the new team, made up from parties of the outgoing coalition and independents, will step down at the end of the year after legislative and presidential elections are held. Key portfolios -- which had been at the center of a tug of war between Islamists and the opposition -- were given to independent candidates little known by most Tunisians. Lotfi Ben Jeddou, who served as prosecutor in the western town of Kasserine, will head the interior ministry, while veteran diplomat Othman Jarandi, a former ambassador to the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... and Jordan, becomes foreign minister. University professor Rachid Sabagh will head the defense ministry and former judge at the court of cassation Nadhir Ben Ammou becomes the new minister of justice. These appointments reflect a key concession by outgoing ruling party Ennahda to hand key ministries to non-partisan figures while parties in the outgoing coalition got less sensitive posts. |
| Posted by:Fred |