President Joseph Kabila, who was sworn in Dec. 6 as the country's first democratically elected president in more than 40 years, appointed Gizenga with a presidential decree delivered Saturday on state-owned television, the Voice of America reported Sunday.

Gizenga, head of the Unified Lumumbist Party and third-place finisher in the first round of presidential elections in July, had given his support to Kabila before the October run-off election in exchange for the prime minister position.

Gizenga served as deputy to Congo's first prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, after the country gained independence from Belgium in 1960. However, he was arrested and forced into exile for nearly 30 years after forming a rebel government of Lumumba's supporters in response to a coup led by Mobutu Sese Seko.