Sahle-Work Zewde has been named as Ethiopia’s first woman president, as part of a unanimous vote Thursday during the second Special Joint Session of Ethiopia’s two houses of parliament – the House of Peoples’ Representatives and the House of the Federation, Reuters reported.
Zewde was a former diplomat and has served as the special representative of the United Nations’ secretary-general and the head of the UN office to the African Union. She will be the successor to Mulatu Teshome.
During her diplomatic career, Zewde was also head of the UN office to Kenya and has acted as Ethiopia’s ambassador to several countries including France, Djibouti and Senegal.
In mid-October, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who holds the country’s highest executive powers, including responsibility for the armed forces had appointed a 20-person cabinet in which half the posts were assigned to women.
The cabinet include Defence Minister Aisha Mohammed and Muferiat Kamil who leads the newly-created Ministry of Peace, responsible for police and domestic intelligence agencies.
