Mozambique's Prime Minister resigns
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MAPUTO, Mozambique (Reuters) -- Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano Tuesday accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Pascoal Mocumbi, who announced last month he would step down ahead of elections later this year.
Analysts said it had been clear Mocumbi would leave the government after he was overlooked last year by the ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo) when it picked businessman Armando Guebuza as its presidential candidate.
Mocumbi, a 63-year-old doctor, has held the largely ceremonial prime minister's post in the southern African country for 10 years.
His successor is expected to be appointed on an interim basis ahead of the elections, when either Guebuza or his key opponent -- Afonso Dhlakama of the main opposition Mozambique National Resistance (Renamo) -- will appoint a government.
A date for the parliamentary and presidential polls has not been set but is widely expected in the second half of the year.
Chissano will this year step down after 18 years in office and a wide circle of some of his closest aides are expected to depart at the same time, senior government officials said.
He has ruled the impoverished country of 18 million people since the 1986 assassination of founding president, Samora Machel, at the height of a ruinous 16-year civil war that pitted Renamo against the Frelimo-led government.
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