TUNIS, 11 November 2004 — Tunisian President Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali reshuffled his government yesterday to speed up reforms after his re-election last month, officials said.

Ben Ali extended his 17 years in power by another five-year mandate last month, getting more than 94 percent of the vote in presidential and parliamentary elections several opposition parties called unfair.

The Cabinet reshuffle, dismissed as insignificant by several opposition figures, keeps in place Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi and the economic and finance ministers.

Foreign Minister Habib Ben Yahia was replaced by respected intellectual Abdelbaki Hermassi, who was culture minister, government officials said. Mohamed Aziz Ben Achour, another intellectual figure, took Hermassi’s former job.

Sadok Chaabane was replaced as higher education minister by law university teacher Lazhar Bououni.

“The replacement of Chaabane and Ben Yahia, closely associated with the previous hard-line policy against opposition, might be a signal toward more political opening,” a Western diplomat told Reuters.

A senior government official said the new cabinet members, most of them young ministers, were appointed to give a “new impetus” to the president’s election program.

“The cabinet structure gives a larger role for women,” with seven women appointed junior ministers or ministers said the senior official, who did not want to be named.

Nejib Chebbi, leader of the socialist-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, said the reshuffle was politically insignificant.

“Cabinet ministers have technical and expertise roles. They play no political role,” he told Reuters. Other opposition leaders also dismissed the reshuffle as minor.

Ben Ali released at least 80 Islamist prisoners, including top leaders of the banned Islamist Nahda party, last week.

Human rights groups, opposition leaders and the US State Department praised the releases and urged Ben Ali to set free more than 500 other Islamist detainees.