Mauritanian president names ex-mining official as prime minister

Reuters
Mauritania's President and African Union's Chairperson Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz addresses a news conference during an European Union (EU)-Africa summit in Brussels April 3, 2014. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) - Mauritania's newly re-elected President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz has named a former senior official with the West African nation's state-owned mining and construction companies as prime minister, according to a presidential decree. Yahya Ould Hademine, whose nomination was announced by the country's state-owned press agency on Wednesday, began his career at the national iron ore mining company SNIM before rising to head its construction subsidiary ATTM. He entered the government as transportation minister in 2010. Abdel Aziz, considered a key Western ally in the fight against al Qaeda-linked Islamists in West Africa, won 82 percent of the vote in a June 21 election. Ould Hademine replaces Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf, who had served as prime minister since a 2008 coup that brought Abdel Aziz to power. Political consultations are under way to form a new cabinet.