ICoast president names Ahoussou-Kouadio as PM

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara on Tuesday named as prime minister Jeannot Ahoussou-Kouadio, a prominent member of a rival party which had backed his 2010 election bid, the government said.

Ahoussou-Kouadio is a former justice minister and member of former president Henri Konan Bedie's Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI), and his appointment fulfills an election promise made to Bedie for backing Ouattara's presidential bid.

"I appreciate the magnitude of the task, the political impact of this gesture," the new premier told journalists after his nomination.

He listed insecurity, the high price of basic foodstuffs and corruption as priorities for the new government.

Ahoussou-Kouadio replaces Guillaume Soro, who was on Monday elected the speaker of the Ivory Coast parliament.

Soro and his government stepped down last week as official results were finally issued for December 2011 legislative elections, which Ouattara's party won.

Ouattara's Rally of Republicans (RDR) party won 138 of the parliament's 253 seats on 54.54 percent of the vote, according to results published by the Independent Electoral Commission.

Bedie's PDCI won 86 seats on 34 percent of the vote.

Ouattara had defeated Laurent Gbagbo in a November 2010 presidential election, but Gbagbo's refusal to give up power triggered a conflict that left about 3,000 people dead.

Ouattara finally took power in the west African nation with the support of UN and French peacekeeping forces and Soro's former rebel fighters.

Gbagbo is now jailed at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where he faces four counts of crimes against humanity.

The PDCI was promised the post of prime minister as part of a political deal struck with the RDR in late 2010, before the second-round run-off in the presidential election.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/icoast-president-names-ahoussou-kouadio-pm-143837103.html

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