Kabila names DR Congo's new premier

The newly elected president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Joseph Kabila, named Antoine Gizenga as new prime minister of the vast central African nation on Saturday.

The 81-year-old leader of the Unified Lumumbist Party (PALU) is expected to form a new government in the shortest possible time, according to an announcement by the presidential office.

Gizenga, who became the only candidate for the post after winning support from the majority of legislators, had been asked by Kabila to prepare for the formation of the new government. Before his nomination, Gizenga had held a series of consultations with other politicians.

Kabila was sworn in on Dec. 6 after winning the presidential runoff in October.

Gizenga began serving as deputy to Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba in June 1960. He spent years in exile after Mobutu Sese Seko seized power in a military coup in 1965.

He returned home in 1992 to lead the struggle against the Mobutu regime. Gizenga came third in the first round of the UN-backed election in July, the country's first in more than four decades.

Source: Xinhua