Ivory Coast`s former PM appointed vice-president

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast

Former Ivorian Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan, who resigned on Monday, has been appointed as Ivory Coast`s first vice president, President Alassane Ouattara announced Tuesday.

His appointment comes two months after the West African state adopted the new constitution of the Third Republic which paved the way for the creation of the position of vice-president and for an upper house of parliament.

"The personality I chose to occupy the position of vice-president of the Republic is Mr. Daniel Kablan Duncan," Ouattara said in a speech at the lower house of parliament.

"He is an experienced personality, a great servant of the State who has shown exceptional personal and professional qualities in all the high offices he held in Ivory Coast or abroad," the president added.

Duncan was also prime minister between 1993 and 1999 under President Henri Konan Bedie. In 2011 he was appointed minister of foreign affairs and named prime minister again in November 2012. Duncan presented his resignation and that of his government to the president on Monday morning following parliamentary elections last month.

On Monday, Guillaume Soro, a former rebel leader was re-elected as head of the National Assembly.