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Ex-BBC Reporter Among Ministers Named by New Somali Premier

Ex-BBC Reporter Among Ministers Named by Somalia’s New Premier

(Bloomberg) -- Somalia’s premier appointed a 26-member cabinet, including a new finance minister and putting a former British Broadcasting Corp. reporter in charge of foreign affairs.

Prime Minister Hassan Ali Kheyre made the announcement Tuesday in the capital, Mogadishu. Abdirahman Duale Beyle was named finance minister, having previously headed the foreign ministry, while Yusuf Garaad Omar, a former journalist and Somali ambassador to the United Nations, became foreign affairs chief.

“The time without accountability in the workplace is over and the time of fairness based on two values, integrity and responsibility, is here,” Kheyre said after announcing the appointments.

Kheyre also named Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed as resources minister. Somalia, whose lawmakers chose Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed as president last month, is trying to emerge from decades of civil war, defeat al-Qaeda-linked militants and encourage investment.

Somalia’s government is keen for companies such as Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP Plc to return and resume exploration for what it says are probable offshore hydrocarbon deposits. The prime minister was previously a director of London-based Soma Oil & Gas Holdings Ltd.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mohamed Sheikh Nor in Mogadishu at msheikhnor@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Michael Gunn