NIGER: New cabinet sworn in

ABIDJAN, 6 January 2000 (IRIN) - A new cabinet was sworn in on Wednesday in Niger by President Tandja Mamadou, who called for an emergency action programme to tackle his country’s financial problems, news organisations reported. Niger’s economy has been affected by the collapse of world prices for its main export, uranium, and a prolonged political crisis marked by two military coups since 1996, according to Reuters. Tandja won presidential elections in November last. Prime minister Hama Amadou heads a cabinet that includes 9 ministers from the Mouvement national pour la Societe de Developpement (MNSD) and 8 from the Convention democratique et sociale (CDS), BBC reported. These two parties are the two main ones that backed Tandja in the second round of the presidential polls. Seven ministries have been alloted to other parties that contributed to Tandja’s victory and to ministers in the previous military-led interim government deemed to have worked well, BBC reported.