AlHijjah 14, 1433, Oct 30, 2012, SPA -- Senegal's President Macky Sall has sacked the foreign and interior ministers as part of a cabinet reshuffle, dpa cited media reports as saying on Tuesday. Five other key cabinet members, including Education Minister Ibrahima Sall and Youth Minister Aly Coto Ndiaye, were also removed from their posts. State television said Sall removed Alioune Badara Cisse from his post as foreign minister, Mbaye Ndiaye, the interior minister who came under fire for not doing more to prevent small-scale riots in central Dakar on October 22. Sall was last week quoted by the national press agency as saying "there were errors of management within our forces which allowed these protesters." Cars and shop windows were smashed in the street riots. Youssou Ndour, the international singer who was made minister for culture and tourism in April, was stripped of part of his role to become the minister for tourism and leisure. Former diplomat Abdoul Aziz Mbaye has been made Senegal's minister for culture, while investigative journalist Abdou Latif Coulibaby becomes government spokesman. "The changes were made after concerns about efficacy," Prime Minister Abdoul Mbaye said in a speech broadcast on state television. "We've had seven months of action, but it was necessary to make some cuts." Sall, 50, was voted into power in March, following a tense election in which he stood against octogenarian Abdoulaye Wade. Sall has since been praised for making first steps towards cutting the cost of living and reducing corruption.
