The two nations have been close allies, both fighting to overthrow the government of the Congolese president, Laurent Kabila.

It has stayed there because the government of the former president, Leonid D. Kuchma, displayed little zeal in finding those who killed him.

The populist government of the Venezuelan president is one of Latin America's most vocal critics of American-style capitalism.

Monti was subsequently confirmed by an overwhelming majority of both houses of the Italian parliament, in what was widely referred to as a "government of the president".

This is partly because they do not want to interfere with the government of the new president and partly because they may not have a good public image.

Nexti he was nominated for the economy and finance minister to the government of the then president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in 1989.

The government of the Mexican president, Vicente Fox, expressed outrage at the killing, but promised it was winning the fight against drug trafficking.

The government of the president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, which has played down the influence of the Islamic parties, had clearly been worried about today's strike.

The government of the young president, Bashar al-Assad, gained widespread popular support for its heated oratory against the United States over the war against Iraq.

Several thousand students, teachers and parents rallied today to protest the closing of universities a week early by the government of the Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic.