New PM named in Central African Republic
Central African Republic’s President Catherine Samba Panza appointed Mahamat Kamoun as her prime minister on Sunday as part of an effort to create a more unified government after more than a year of heavy sectarian violence.
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Kamoun is a Muslim who served as a senior advisor to the leader of the Seleka rebel group Michel Djotodia after he briefly held power last year.
Kamoun, whose selection was announced on state radio, replaces André Nzapayéké, who stepped down last week to allow Samba Panza, who is a Christian, create a more inclusive government as a political solution to the sectarian bloodshed between the predominately Muslim Seleka rebels and Chrisian “anti-balaka” militia.
His appointment comes two weeks after an agreed ceasefire signed in late July in Brazzaville.
However, reports of clashes in the remote north this week raised questions that the agreement was in tatters, according to Reuters.
Thousands of people have died in the violence over the past year while more than a million people have been displaced.
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