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| - Senegalese President Macky Sall on Sunday appointed a new government to replace his foreign, interior and oil ministers, with members of the opposition placed in other key roles. Sall on Wednesday dissolved his 32-strong government team which he formed in April of last year, weeks after he was re-elected to a second term. At that time, Sall abolished the office of prime minister in what critics saw as a bid to wield more power himself. His new government has 33 ministers and four secretaries of state, according to a presidential decree in which seven new ministers and three new secretaries of state were named. It is a "government of openness and unity, of action and results," said presidential spokesman Seydou Gueye. Among the newcomers is Foreign Minister Aissata Tall Sall, a former opponent with no family ties who has become an ally of President Sall. Antoine Felix Abdoulaye Diome, head of the judicial authority, was appointed interior minister. They replaced Amadou Ba and Aly Ngouille Ndiaye -- two heavyweights of Sall's party, the Alliance for the Republic (APR), who observers believe harbour presidential ambitions. The same could be said for Mouhamadou Makhtar Cisse, the minister of petroleum and energy who is also leaving the government. He was replaced by Sophie Gladima, who had been minister of mines. The reasons for their departures were not disclosed by the presidency. Meanwhile, former prime minister Idrissa Seck, a candidate in last year's presidential election who has been a staunch opponent of Sall, was named chair of the country's economic, social and environmental council (CESE). Political opponent Oumar Sarr, from the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) of former president Abdoulaye Wade, was appointed mines minister. Yankhoba Diattara, another opposition leader, was named minister of digital economy. Sall on Wednesday presided as usual over cabinet business without giving any indication he was about to dissolve his government. He later signed a decree to that effect but gave no reason for the move. He also abolished the functions of the secretary general to the presidency Mahammed Boun Abdallah Dione, previously his prime minister and a longtime close associate. mrb/erc/cdw
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