President Nicolas Sarkozy sent a strong signal to France's disaffected minorities by appointing an outspoken advocate of Muslim women and a woman of Senegalese origin to his government -- among France's most diverse ever.
As junior minister for city policy, feminist activist Fadela Amara will oversee the renovation of dilapidated housing estates where many immigrants live -- neighborhoods similar to the one where she grew up with her Algerian immigrant parents.
Senegalese-born Rama Yade was appointed to the new post of junior minister for human rights, an area Sarkozy has identified as a key priority for his month-old government, which he reshuffled and expanded Tuesday after his governing conservative party did not fare as well as expected in weekend parliamentary elections.
The nomination of three women with roots in Africa -- his current justice minister, Rachida Dati, is of North African origin -- is unprecedented in France, where previous governments had very few non-white faces.
The appointments highlight Sarkozy's determination that the corridors of power should better reflect France's religious and ethnic diversity and include more women.
They were also seen as an attempt by the blunt conservative to mend fences with poor immigrant neighborhoods where he is widely reviled for his tough stance against delinquency and illegal immigration.
In 2005, he described troublemakers in a Paris suburb as "scum" -- a comment that helped fuel three weeks of rioting in housing projects across France.
In another first, a woman was nominated to the Finance Ministry. Former lawyer and two-time Cabinet Minister Christine Lagarde is replacing Jean-Louis Borloo.
Borloo was promoted to de facto deputy prime minister, heading a broad ministry that includes the environment -- another of Sarkozy's priorities. Borloo took over from Alain Juppe, who resigned after he was beaten in the weekend parliamentary elections.
Ahmed El Keiy, editor in chief of Beur FM, a station aimed at France's North African population, hailed the new appointment as "a laudable effort to reach out" to minorities but warned it might prove more symbolic than effective.
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