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New Rwandan government but key ministers unchanged

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame/FILE

Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame/FILE

KIGALI, July 24- Rwandan President Paul Kagame named a fresh government Thursday, one day after appointing a new prime minister, reshuffling some posts but maintaining key ministers.

Under Rwanda’s constitution, new ministers must be chosen or old ones reappointed after a new prime minister is named by the president.

No clear reason has been given for the change.

“Change is a result of many factors, and this doesn’t mean that the previous team did not perform well,” President Paul Kagame said, after swearing in the government.

The main posts are all unchanged, including Defence Minister James Kabarebe, Finance Minster Claver Gatete, Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo and Interior Minister Sheikh Mussa Fazil Harerimana.

New Prime Minister Murekezi, 62, is a member of the Rwanda’s second-largest political party, the Social Democratic Party (PSD), a member of the ruling coalition.

He is the fifth prime minister since the Rwandan genocide of 1994. He replaced Pierre Habumuremyi, who had held the post since 2011.

Rwanda has shown dramatic economic successes in recent years, with its GDP per capita growing five-fold in the past two decades, according to the World Bank.

But critics accuses the country’s authoritarian rulers of suppressing dissent and involvement in conflict in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

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