Mauritania President Names Ex-Banker For PM

Mauritania's new president Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi named former central bank governor Zein Ould Zeidane.

Mauritania's new president Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi named former central bank governor Zein Ould Zeidane prime minister late on Friday after taking over from a military junta in the Islamic state.

Abdallahi, a 69-year-old economist and former minister, was sworn in on Thursday, sealing a democratic handover by the military officers who seized power in a 2005 coup in the Arab-African nation on the western edge of the Sahara.

"The presidency announces that by decree Mr Zein Ould Zeidane is named prime minister," Mauritania's state news agency said in radio broadcasts and on its Website.