Lusaka- Zambia's newly-elected President Rupiah Banda on Friday fired finance minister N'gandu Magande, who ran against him for the presidential nomination of the ruling Movement for Multi-Party Democracy.

Announcing his cabinet, Banda said Situmbeko Musokotwane, a former treasury secretary in the finance ministry and former advisor to deceased ex-president Levy Mwanawasa, would take Magande's place.

Banda, who narrowly defeated opposition leader Michael Sata in October 30 presidential elections, made justice minister George Kunda his vice president. Kunda will also retain the justice portfolio.

Banda's firing of Magande came despite the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank reportedly advising him not to exclude Magande from his cabinet.

Magande has been praised with pushing through the pro-market policies that made Mwanawasa a darling of foreign investors and Western donors.

During Mwanawasa's seven-year presidency, inflation fell sharply, the Zambian currency, the kwacha, stabilized and multilateral institutions forgave millions of dollars of Zambian debt.

Banda has however retained most of Mwanawasa's other ministers, including Foreign Affairs Minister Kabinga Pande.

Announcing his governing team, Banda asked the ministry of defence to deal firmly with any political leader that incited violence and appealed to the opposition to trust in the courts to deal with their allegations of election fraud.

"If any manipulation has taken place the law is there. Go to the courts," said Banda, whose hasty swearing-in, just a few hours after being elected, has raised eyebrows internationally.

Zambia found itself without a president in August after Mwanawasa died of a stroke in Paris, two years into his second five-year term. Banda will serve out the rest of his term.

Patriotic Front (PF) leader Sata, who had been favoured in two of three pre-election polls to carry the vote, accuses the Electoral Commission of Zambia of rigging in Banda's favour and gone to court to challenge the result.

Zambians have been holding their breath for a wave of election violence. Sata's refusal to accept defeat by Mwanawasa in the 2006 presidential election led to a week of rioting.

This time, apart from isolated protests in Lusaka and the Copperbelt, the situation has been mostly peaceful so far. (dpa)