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Last Updated: Tuesday, 6 February 2007, 15:51 GMT
Relief at new DR Congo government
DR Congo Prime Minister Antoine Gizenga
Prime Minister Gizenga is a veteran of Congolese politics
Many Congolese have been expressing relief that a new cabinet has finally been announced by Prime Minister Antoine Gizenga after landmark polls.

Last October's run-off presidential election was the first democratic poll in DR Congo for four decades.

But some politicians and newspapers have complained that the government is too weighted in favour of allies of President Joseph Kabila.

The government faces a country ravaged by years of misrule and conflict.

Some critics say there are not enough representatives from western Congo, apart from Mr Gizenga and Nzanga Mobutu, son of former ruler Mobutu Sese Seko.

Electoral support for Mr Kabila was greatest in the east of the country while most westerners voted for former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba and his MLC party.

Big team

The BBC's Arnaud Zajtman in the capital, Kinshasa, says newspapers sold well, as people rushed to find out who was in the new team.

"People have been waiting for this for a long time. It's a good day for Congo. We expect them to work like they should," a newspaper vendor said.

DR CONGO GOVERNMENT
Antoine Gizenga - PM
Nzanga Mobutu - agriculture
Denis Kalume - interior
Mbusa Nyamwisi - foreign affairs
No-one from former rebel groups, RCD or MLC
After weeks of delay in announcing the new administration, it comprises a small team of six state ministers and a larger cabinet of 54 ministers and vice-ministers.

Under a 2002 deal to end the five-year DR Congo conflict, a power-sharing government, including the former rebel leaders, was set up.

But Mr Kabila's supporters argued that his election victory gave him and his allies a mandate to govern alone.

Mr Gizenga, 81, promised to support Mr Kabila's bid for the presidency after he came third in the first round of presidential election in July.

He was a deputy prime minister in the government of the country's first post-independence leader, Patrice Lumumba.

Mr Mobutu, the new agriculture minister, also told his supporters to back Mr Kabila after he came fourth.

In terms of protocol, he is number two, after Mr Gizenga.

New faces

Former rebel leader Mbusa Nyamwisi gets the foreign ministry and Denis Kalume remains interior minister.

DR Congo President Joseph Kabila
Joseph Kabila is DR Congo's first freely elected leader in 40 years
No-one from the former rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) was appointed to the cabinet, after its presidential candidate Azarias Ruberwa, failed to get many votes.

Our reporter says there are many new faces in the cabinet, as many heavyweights from the Kabila regime were elected to parliament.

The election was supported by the UN's largest peacekeeping contingent - some 17,000 soldiers.

Some 75 people died in rioting last week in several western towns after supporters of Mr Bemba took to the streets to protest against results from provincial elections.

Mr Bemba was elected to the senate.




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