Megawar named new Yemen prime minister

Sanaa: Yemen's president appointed a new prime minister yesterday as international pressure builds on the country to introduce reforms, a government official said.

Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was re-elected in September, issued a presidential decree asking Ali Mohammad Megawar, who is seen to have stronger economic credentials than the outgoing premier, to form a new cabinet.

"We expect new faces in the new cabinet," an official said. "I do not think it would be announced before one week."

Analysts in Yemen said Saleh took this step to show the donors, such as the World Bank, that he was serious about political and economic reforms.

Reforms

"Forming a new government is an obligation to move forward to achieve positive results on both levels of development and investment," Saleh said in a letter to the outgoing premier Abdul Qader Bagammal.

"To implement what came in my political programme during the elections, what comes first is our people's living conditions, battling poverty, corruption and eliminating the unemployment rate," he said.

It was not clear if the oil minister will remain in his post after the shake-up.

Megawar, 54 and French-educated, has held two ministerial posts in the past five years, becoming the minister responsible for electricity in 2006.

Bagammal "will continue in his position as secretary-general of the ruling party," a senior official said.