President dissolves one government and creates another

Central African Republic (CAR) leader Francois Bozize dismissed his cabinet on Wednesday naming a new team of ministers the following day. Most ministers were retained, including Prime Minister Celestin-LeRoy Gaombalet. Bozize retains the key defence portfolio, according to a statement that Gaombalet read on Thursday on the state-owned Radio Centrafrique. Bozize trimmed the total number of ministers in his cabinet from 28 to 24. "The number of ministers has been reduced for budgetary reasons," Gaombalet said. "It is a little technical readjustment which does not affect the geopolitical equilibrium." Gaombalet added that when Bozize made the reshuffled he took into account the concerns of the country's law advisory body, the National Transitional Council, and of labour unions. The reduction in the size of the cabinet was in line with the "spirit of consensus" of all stakeholders in the transition, he said. New ministers include Marie-Solange Pagonendj-Ndakala, who is now minister for social affairs and national solidarity and Didier Wangue, who is minister for commerce. Pagonendj-Ndakala was previously chairwoman of the Association of Disabled Women. Finance Minister Jean-Pierre Lebouder, who recently resigned from the government, is among the four ministers Bozize dropped from the new line-up. The others are Hyacinthe Wodobode, who had been minister of justice and human rights; Marcel Malonga, who had been minister for the interior and administration and Desire Pendemo, minister for civil aviation. Parfait Mbay, who had been minister for communication and national reconciliation, is now minister for agriculture and livestock farming. Lea Koyassoum-Ndoumta, who had been minister of social affairs and national solidarity, is now minister of justice and human rights. Joseph Kiticki-Kouamba, who had been minister of environment, is now the minister of communication and national reconciliation. Michel Salle, who had been ministers for water and forest resources, is now minister for the interior. And Denis Kossi-Bella who was minister for animal husbandry is now minister for water and forest resources. The move will not have a negative impact on the country's electoral process, Lamine Cisse, the Special Representative of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the CAR and head of the UN Peace-building Support Office, or BONUCA, told IRIN on Friday. "The technical readjustment will streamline the transition," Cisse said. "The international community cannot reproach the government as consensus, which has been the leitmotiv of the transition, has continued." He added that political parties were still represented in the government and that the key portfolios were given to people with experience, notably the ministers for finance and communication. "I don't see a major problem or risk of a major crisis," Cisse said. A transitional government must link two époques, he added. "It has never been easy." Bozize first appointed Prime Minister Gaombalet on 12 December 2003. He replaced Abel Goumba who Bozize appointed soon after seizing power on 15 March 2003 from President Ange-Felix Patasse.