LIBREVILLE (Reuters) – A junta that seized power in OPEC-member state Gabon appointed Marcel Abeke, a former executive of French miner Eramet as the country’s new petrol minister on Saturday.
Abeke was an executive of the company which operates a manganese mine in Gabon until March last year when he was appointed to a new 12-person high commission in charge of evaluating and implementing government action.
Gabon’s economy is largely depended on oil exports for revenue. It producers around 200,000 barrels a day (bpd) of crude oil, making it the second-smallest OPEC producer.
Among other ministers announced by transitional prime minister Raymond Ndong Sima are Colonel Maurice Tocui as environment minister, replacing British-Gabonese conservationist Lee White.
Tocui will now oversee Gabon’s ambitious green agenda, including its recent debt-for-nature swap to fund marine conservation.
Other key appointments to the cabinet of 26 ministers, compared with the ousted government of 46, include Mays Mouissi, a Paris-based economist and consultant, as economy minister, and Brigadier-General Brigitte Onkanowa as minister delegate at the presidency in charge of defence.
The junta had previously appointed former opposition leader, Ndong Sima, as prime minister of the transitional government.
(Reporting by Gerauds Wilfried Obangome; Writing by Bate Felix; Editing by Alexander Smith)