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KIGALI, April 3 (AFP) - Rwanda's military president, General Juvenal Habyarimana, has named opposition politician Dismas Nsengiyaremye as the East African nation's new prime minister, it was announced here.
Nsengiyaremye replaces Sylvestre Nsanzimana, a member of Habyarimana's National Republican Movement for Development (NRMD) who was named in October but was immediately rejected by most leaders of the country's newly formed opposition parties.
Nsengiyaremye, appointed late Thursday, is a leader of the main opposition party, the Republican Democratic Movement.
Habyarimana said he instructed the new premier to form a coalition government grouping members of the NRMD, the former sole legal political party, and four opposition parties to oversee the runup to multi-party elections.
Habyarimana said in a statement that the elections would be held within a year of the new government taking office.
Nsengiyaremye, a veterinarian and former Agriculture Ministry official, will also have to deal with ethnic violence in the north of the country between the majority Hutus and Tutsis which has left more than 150 dead by official count in recent weeks.
In the outgoing government of Nsanzimana, also introduced last December as a coalition formation, 16 of 17 cabinet posts were held by Habyarimana's party.
The movement ruled Rwanda as the sole legal party for 18 years until constitutional changes in June opened the door to a multi-party system.
MGU/dl/dm/ns AFP AFP SEQN-0091
