Zimbabwe's new president named
his first cabinet Thursday, appointing two senior military officers to
key portfolios and dropping close allies of Robert Mugabe who resigned
after the armed forces took control of the country.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa appointed as foreign
affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo, the army major general who went on state
television announcng the military's take-over, a dramatic powergrab
which culminated in Mugabe stepping down a week later.
The long-serving airforce commander Perence Shiri
also became the Lands and Agriculture minister, according to a statement
released late Thursday night.
Mnangagwa however kept a sizeable number of ministers
from Mugabe's former cabinet - including Patrick Chinamas who returns
to the finance ministry from which he had been removed by Mugabe during a
cabinet reshuffle in October.
War veteran leaders who spearheaded mass protests to
force Mugabe out of office, four days after the military sent tanks to
the streets of the capital Harare, were also awarded positions in the
cabinet.
Chris Mutsvangwa is now the Information Minister while another became a deputy in the defence and security ministry.
The cabinet did not include figures from the opposition to Mugabe.
Mnangagwa, 75, was sworn in last Friday following
dramatic events in the southern African country after the military took
over saying they wanted to arrest criminals in government around
93-year-old Mugabe.
Mugabe's tenure withstood repeated claims of hanging
on to power through brutal repression of dissent, election rigging and
corruption, until concerted pressure from the military finally forced
him
to quit.
Parliament had begun proceedings to impeach Mugabe
for allowing his wife Grace and a coterie of followers to "capture" the
ruling Zanu-PF party.
Now the new
president has vowed sweeping changes in government and new policies to
attract investment and revive the ailing economy.
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