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By Vincent Fertey
NOUAKCHOTT, July 16 (Reuters) - Mauritanian Prime Minister Yahya Ahmed El Waghef has formed a new government in a bid to end a two-week political crisis in the Saharan Islamic state.
The new cabinet, announced late on Tuesday, excluded opposition figures who had been part of the previous administration that resigned on July 3 in the face of a parliamentary no-confidence vote proposed against it.
The revolt by national assembly deputies against the previous cabinet headed by El Waghef, which had barely served two months, had confronted President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi with his first major political crisis since he won elections last year marking the return of civilian rule.
After initially accepting El Waghef's resignation on July 3, Abdallahi immediately asked the prime minister to stay on and form a new government in Mauritania, which straddles Arab and black Africa and is one of the continent's newest oil producers.
The 30-strong cabinet announced late on Tuesday included 14 new faces, but was drawn exclusively from the ranks of the ruling National Pact for Development and Democracy (PNDD-ADIL) to which both Abdallahi and El Waghef belong.
It did not include members of the opposition Union of Forces for Progress (UFP) and Islamist Tawassoul parties which had formed part of the previous government. Their past inclusion had triggered the revolt by PNDD-ADIL deputies against a cabinet they said did not reflect the will of the electorate.
Members of the excluded parties questioned whether the new adminstration would be able to end political squabbling.
"This new government's composition is not surprising. It reflects tensions among those in power ... We'll wait to see what it's programme is ," Tawassoul leader Jemil Mansour said.
NEW ECONOMIC TEAM
In the new cabinet, El Waghef renewed his economic team, appointing economist and former Islamic Development Bank official Sidi Ould Tah as his economy and finance minister.
Baba Ahmed Ould Sidi Mohamed was named as oil and mines minister, replacing Kane Mustapha in the petroleum portfolio.
A former ambassador to Libya, Abdallah Ould Benhmeidi was appointed foreign minister and the former water and energy minister, Mohamed Ould R'Zeizim, was made interior minister.
Premier El Waghef kept on his defence minister, Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Mohamed Lemine.
In May, Abdallahi had replaced his previous technocrat prime minister, Zein Ould Zeidane, following criticism over the government's response to soaring food prices and to attacks over the last year carried out by al Qaeda's north African arm.
This included the Dec. 24 murder of four French tourists and the cancellation of the annual Dakar motor rally because of security fears.
After winning last year's elections, Abdallahi took over from a military junta that had ruled since it toppled President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya in a bloodless coup in 2005. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/) (Additional reporting by Ibrahima Sylla in Nouakchott; Editing by Pascal Fletcher)
