Senegal's prime minister quit Today and was replaced by a ruling party stalwart in a reshuffle that had been widely expected after the governing coalition suffered heavy losses in local elections last month, Reuters reported. "At the cabinet meeting this morning, I offered my resignation and that of the government," Cheikh Hajibou Soumare told reporters in the capital Dakar, adding that he had stepped down for personal reasons. Analysts said the new prime minister, Souleymane Ndene Ndiaye, was more politically astute than Soumare. Ndene Ndiaye was previously minister for maritime economy and fishery. "The nomination of Ndene Ndiaye as prime minister seems to show that President Abdoulaye Wade has asked a true politician to form a government ... unlike Soumare who was a technocrat," said political analyst Babacar Justin Ndiaye.
