CONAKRY (Reuters) – Guinea President Alpha Conde named mining executive Mamady Youla as prime minister yesterday as part of a strategy to revive the West African nation’s ailing economy, the government announced.
Guinea is a major producer of bauxite, an aluminium ore, but growth has been hamstrung by a slump in metals prices and a two-year Ebola epidemic that killed more than 2,500 people and has driven away some investors.
Conde was re-elected to a second five-year term in a landslide victory in October, pledging to get Guineans back to work.
“The nomination of Mamady Youla, a senior Guinean executive in the private sector and administration, confirms President Alpha Conde’s new push to support job creation and training … and reinforce Guinean businesses,” a government statement said.
From 2004 until his appointment as prime minister, Youla served as managing director of Guinea Alumina Corporation. GAC, which possesses a bauxite concession in Guinea’s Boke region, is a subsidiary of Emirates Global Aluminium, owned by Abu Dhabi investment fund Mubadala and Investment Corporation of Dubai.
Prime Minister Mohamed Said Fofana and his government resigned on Wednesday, following a tradition in which presidents typically change their cabinets following election.
The government statement said Youla was expected to name new ministers in the coming days.
