Dakar, April 30, SPA -- Senegal's prime minister quit Today and was replaced by a ruling party stalwart in a reshuffle that had been widely expected after the governing coalition suffered heavy losses in local elections last month, Reuters reported. "At the cabinet meeting this morning, I offered myresignation and that of the government," Cheikh Hajibou Soumaretold reporters in the capital Dakar, adding that he had steppeddown for personal reasons. Analysts said the new prime minister, Souleymane NdeneNdiaye, was more politically astute than Soumare. Ndene Ndiayewas previously minister for maritime economy and fishery. "The nomination of Ndene Ndiaye as prime minister seems toshow that President Abdoulaye Wade has asked a true politicianto form a government ... unlike Soumare who was a technocrat,"said political analyst Babacar Justin Ndiaye. --SPA www.spa.gov.sa/659644