President Robert Mugabe Saturday announced a new cabinet. Herbert Murerwa was named finance minister to succeed Christopher Kureneri, who was arrested last year on charges of smuggling more than US$1 million (¤780,000) out of the country and violating nationality laws. Murerwa was finance minister at the time of the disastrous 1998 crash in the value of the Zimbabwean dollar due to spending on gratuities for ex-guerillas and the dispatch of 14,000 troops, tanks and combat aircraft to the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Murerwa had been minister of higher education and was acting in charge of finance since Kureneri's arrest. Zimbabwe state radio, which announced the appointments, said the new cabinet would "spearhead the economic development of the country." Foreign Minister Stanislaus Mudenge moved to higher education while Trade Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi took over the foreign ministry. A veteran Mugabe loyalist, Didymus Mutasa, 70, took over control of the feared Central Intelligence Organization as minister of state for national security. One surprise move was the creation of a new Ministry of Rural Housing, to be run by sidelined ruling party strongman Emmerson Mnangagwa, who last year made an abortive bid for a vacant vice presidential post. --SP 1214 Local Time 0914 GMT
