Ethiopia appoints its first female president - CNN
Sahle-Work Zewde, seen here in 2014, served as a top UN diplomat before becoming Ethiopia's first woman president. |
Ethiopia's parliament has appointed the country's first female president, Sahle-Work Zewde, in a move hailed as setting a new standard for women in the East African nation, the Prime Minister's chief of staff announced Thursday.
Sahle-Work, 69, has served since June as the United Nation's special representative to the African Union as an under-secretary-general. She also has held top diplomatic posts representing Ethiopia in France and Djibouti.
Sahle-Work Zewde speaks at a United Nations meeting in 2014 in Kenya. |
Sahle-Work replaces Mulatu Teshome, who resigned the presidency Wednesday.
"In a patriarchal society such as ours, the appointment of a female head of state not only sets the standard for the future but also normalises women as decision-makers in public life," tweeted Fitsum Arega, the top aide to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who leads Ethiopia's government and policy.
Sahle-Work's appointment comes amid a Cabinet reshuffle and radical political reforms by Abiy, who took office in April and, at 41, is Africa's youngest leader.In a historic move, the two Houses has elected Ambassador Shalework Zewde as the next President of #Ethiopia. She is the first female head of state in modern Ethiopia. A career diplomat & senior official at the UN, she brings the right competence & experience to the office. (1)— Fitsum Arega (@fitsumaregaa) October 25, 2018
Abiy last week cut the country's ministerial roster to 20 and handed half the positions to women, including a female defense minister, another first for the nation.
He has freed many jailed journalists, bloggers and political prisoners arrested by previous administrations, along with honoring an agreement that ended a 20-year bloody border war with neighboring Eritrea.
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