Somali Prime Minister Ali Khalif Galaydh has appointed 45 assistant ministers, completing the first process of establishing a government in the strife-torn Horn of Africa country, an official spokesman said Sunday.
Government spokesman Idris Hassan Diriye said that the assistant minister sworn in on Saturday at the residence of President Abdulkassim Salat Hassan.
Somalia has lacked a central authority and has been ravaged by civil war since the ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
Galaydh formed a 25-member cabinet earlier this month.
The establishment of a government in Somalia caps a reconciliation process brokered by neighboring Djibouti, which led first to the creation of a transitional assembly, then a parliamentary speaker, the nomination of President Salat, and to Galaydh's own appointment by Salat earlier this month.
Galaydh, also on Saturday, appointed prominent elder Ali Ugas Abdulle the governor of the Banadir region, which includes Mogadishu.
Most of the armed faction leaders in the country have opposed the reconciliation process from the outset and do not recognize the posts that emerged from it, warning that the whole endeavor will just lead to further bloodshed -- MOGADISHU (AFP)
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