Advertisement
Gabon PM names new cabinet days after court dissolved government
Gabon's then Minister of Foreign Affairs Emmanuel Issoze-Ngondet addresses the United Nations General Assembly in the Manhattan borough of New York, U.S., September 24, 2016. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
05/05/2018
LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - Gabon's prime minister announced the composition of a new cabinet on Friday, just days after the Constitutional Court ordered him to resign for failing to organise legislative elections on time last weekend.
The court ruled on Monday that Prime Minister Emmanuel Issoze-Ngondet was no longer legitimate. It also ordered that the National Assembly be dissolved.
However, President Ali Bongo, the current head of the Central African OPEC member's half-century-old political dynasty, reappointed him on Thursday.
Announced on state television, Issoze-Ngondet's new 40-member cabinet is composed of 11 ministers of state, 17 ministers and 12 deputy ministers and includes three allies of opposition leader Jean Ping.
Ping has refused to recognise his defeat to Bongo, then the incumbent president, in a 2016 election that international observers said was marred by irregularities and which sparked brief spasms of violence.
(Reporting by Gérauds Wilfried Obangome; Writing by Joe Bavier; Editing by James Dalgleish)
Add new comment