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DAKAR: Senegal’s government has replaced the justice and interior ministers in a cabinet shake-up, pledging a “government of commitment and combat” as the country tries to revive its economy.
The reshuffle, announced on television late Saturday, comes amid signs of tension between President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and his prime minister, Ousmane Sonko.
Both men have promised change since taking office last year, claiming mismanagement by the previous administration of president Macky Sall.
But critics say they have not moved fast enough to restore confidence in the government and tackle massive government debt and poverty in the West African nation.
“This will not be some village government but a government of commitment and combat. Working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, given the situation we have inherited,” Sonko told public television.
Yassine Fall, previously foreign minister, will take over as justice minister from Ousmane Diagne, a judge widely deemed an independent, who joined the cabinet shortly after Faye’s election.
Sonko said Fall’s task was “to reconcile with the Senegalese and win back their trust.”
Critics have accused officials of moving too slowly on investigations of alleged crimes under Sall, including violent crackdowns on opposition protests starting in 2021 that saw dozens of people killed.
Cheikh Niang, a former ambassador, will take over as foreign minister, while Bamba Cisse, a lawyer for Sonko, will become interior minister.
Sonko unveiled in August an economic recovery plan based on a shift toward greater domestic funding to raise money and cut debt.
The country is struggling with an unemployment rate of around 20 percent, and 36 percent of the population lives in poverty, according to government figures.

LISBON: Problems with a cable likely caused a Lisbon funicular railway popular with tourists to hurtle down a hill, killing at least 16 people and injuring another 22 when it crashed into a building, according to a preliminary report.
The yellow tram-like carriage, which carries people up and down a steep hillside in the Portuguese capital, hit a building after leaving the track on Wednesday, just meters from its twin at the bottom of a steep hill.
Portugal’s Office for Air and Rail Accident Investigations on Saturday released its first investigative report into the crash.
The report said the cabins had traveled “not more than about six meters” when they “suddenly lost the balancing force provided by the cable connecting them.”
“Cabin No. 2 suddenly reversed, its movement halting approximately 10 meters beyond due to its partial excursion past the end of the track and the burial of the underside of the trambolho (trolley) at the end of the cable trench,” it added.
“Cabin No. 1, at the top of Calcada da Gloria, continued its downward movement, increasing its speed.
The report added: “The cabin’s brakeman immediately applied the pneumatic brake and the hand brake to try to halt the movement. These actions had no effect in stopping or reducing the cabin’s speed, and it continued accelerating down the slope.”
The report added an examination of the wreckage showed “the connecting cable had given way” at the attachment point to the cabin at the top of the hill.
A final report will be published later.