950806

Murayama asks key

allies to stay after

cabinet reshuffle

HIROSHIMA: Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama asked Foreign Minister Yohei Kono and Finance Minister Masayoshi Takemura to stay in their posts after a cabinet reshuffle expected later this week.

"I want Foreign Minister Kono and Finance Minister Takemura to retain their posts," Murayama told a news conference in Hiroshima after attending ceremonies marking the 50th anniversary of the world's first atomic bomb attack.

"Trust and cooperation among the three party leaders must be maintained and strengthened," Murayama said, in an apparent attempt to keep his tottering coalition from falling apart.

Kono is head of the powerful Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), senior partners in the alliance, and Takemura the head of the small Sakigake party.

Murayama, the Socialist party chief, said the reshuffle was meant to breathe new life into his 13-month-old government and meet demands to prop up the sagging economy.

The move was meant to put his coalition back on its feet after being badly mauled in Upper House elections in July.

But as soon as Murayama decided to reshuffle his cabinet last Friday, the plan got bogged down in internal feuding in his three-way ruling coalition.

In two rounds of meetings on Friday, both Kono and Takemura refused to commit themselves to stay in their respective posts, although they told Murayama they would remain in the cabinet in unspecified posts.

The three are to meet again today (Monday).

Murayama said the reshuffle would take place in the first half of the week, without specifying the date. Parliamentary sources said the most likely date would be Tuesday.-Reuter