Breakthrough in Ethiopia: elected for the first time a woman in the presidency



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The Ethiopian Parliament appointed for the first time a woman to the presidency of the country: Sahle-Work Zewde, career diplomat. Aged 68, born in Addis Ababa and a graduate of higher education in France, Sahle-Work is also the only woman at the head of the state of Africa. Elected unanimously, it will remain vacant after the unexpected resignation of Mulatu Teshome, one year before the natural expiration of his term.

Gender equality

The elections come a week after new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed – who has been in office since April – has appointed a government, half of whose posts have been awarded to women and women at the head of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Defense. square. of peace. The same Prime Minister, in recent months, has released thousands of political opponents and launched the peace process with neighboring Eritrea. After the oath, the new president promised to work to make gender equality a reality in Ethiopia. Women are the first victims of the absence of peace – he said in his inaugural address -. If the reforms that will be carried out in Ethiopia will be carried out by men and women, the result will be an Ethiopian country free from religious, ethnic or gender discrimination. And he added: I urge the government to work to eradicate poverty, a source of instability, with the full participation of women. HSahle-Work then invited the government and the opposition to focus on the elements that unite us to create a country and a generation of which we will be proud.

diplomatic

Sahle-Work thus became the fourth Ethiopian Head of State, after the adoption of the 1995 Constitution. The text states that a president may be elected for a term of up to two times, from Duration of six years. Until now, Sahle-Work has been Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, to the African Union. Previously, she had been ambbadador to France in Djibouti (Senegal) and permanent representative of Ethiopia to the Igg intergovernmental development authority, the regional economic body of Africa of the African Union. 39; East.

Mute weapons

Italy intends to support Ethiopia and Eritrea in their peace process. That's what the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Enzo Moavero Milanesi, said on the sidelines of the second Ministerial Conference between Italy and Africa, ongoing at the Farnesina. The goal of the African Union to silence weapons by 2020 – said the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, citing the agreement of reconciliation between Ethiopia and Eritrea – does not belong to the utopia but to reality. Current developments in East Africa are characterized by astounding and positive speed, the president said. According to Mattarella, the peace agreement between Eritrea and Ethiopia, with the participation of Djibouti and Somalia, allows us, for the first time in 20 years, to speak out about peace. a shared and inclusive regional economic development, including through the action of Igad. , the organization of the countries of the Horn of Africa with which our country has strong, deep and constructive relations.

reforms

Ethiopia has embarked on a very radical process of internal reform, while engaging in a process of peace and security in the Horn of Africa that has already yielded very significant results, said the Ethiopian Minister of Foreign Affairs , Workneh Gebeyehu, at the Italy-Africa Conference. The peace process with Eritrea has shown that Africans are able to find solutions to African problems, he concluded.

Other women

Among the women who held the position of Africa's chief of state before Sahle Work was Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian economist and entrepreneur, Liberia's President from 2006 to 2018 and Africa's first woman president, up to In pbading deliveries to George Weah, early 2018; The former president of Mauritius, Ameenah Gurib-Fakim ​​(June 2015-March 2018), resigned in March 2018 because she was involved in a financial scandal. In Malawi, Joyce Banda was vice president from 2009 to 2012, before being named president from 2012 to 2014, following the death of her predecessor, Bingu wa Mutharika.

October 25, 2018 (change October 25, 2018 to 15:41)

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