Ethiopia's parliament has accepted the selection of a new president to succeed Sahle-Work Zewde, the country's first female head of state.
Taye Astike Selassie, the
foreign minister since February, has taken on a largely ceremonial function. In
Ethiopia, political power is held by the prime minister, who is presently Abiy
Ahmed.
Sahle-Work allegedly fell
out with Abiy in recent years.
The prime minister's
approval of her initial appointment in 2018 was hailed as a watershed moment
for gender equality in Ethiopian politics.
On Saturday, Sahle-Work
wrote a brief and somewhat cryptic statement on X, hinting that she was upset
as a result of her year-long silence.
According to sources
close to the 74-year-old, she has been unhappy for some time and is looking
forward to the conclusion of her tenure, which is set to conclude later this
month.
During her administration,
she issued repeated calls for peace throughout the country, but she was
chastised for not speaking out more against gender-based violence during
Tigray's two-year civil war. However, it is reported she was concerned about
the ongoing hostilities in the Oromia and Amhara regions.
Federal forces and a
local militia have been engaged in combat in Amhara, resulting in hundreds of
fatalities and accusations of crimes against humanity against the security
forces.
President Taye, 68, is
regarded as close to Abiy. He is an accomplished diplomat who has worked in
Egypt and at the UN. On Monday, he was sworn in in front of MPs.
With Sahle-Work's
succession, Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan is now the only female
head of state in Africa.
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