UPDATE: ETHIOPIAN LAWMAKERS SELECT NEW PRESIDENT

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Ethiopian parliamentarians on Monday elected Foreign Minister Taye Atske Selassie as the country’s new president, a mostly ceremonial position that leaves Africa with only one female head of state.

Atske Selassie succeeded Sahle-Work Zewde, 74, a distinguished former diplomat who had served as president since 2018.

Tanzania remains the only African country with a female president, Samia Suluhu Hassan.

Sahle-Work assumed the presidency shortly after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to office in 2018.

Her hiring, coupled with his economic reforms, the appointment of a gender-equal cabinet, and a peace treaty with Eritrea, boosted Abiy’s standing with Western nations, earning him the Nobel Peace Prize.

However, a harsh battle against rebels in the Tigray region from 2020 to 2022, as well as ongoing disputes with other ethnic groups, have severely harmed his international position, prompting the United States to impose sanctions.

Taye, 68, becomes Ethiopia’s fifth president since 1995, when the country adopted its current constitution. He is only eligible for two six-year terms in office.

He was appointed to the foreign ministry in February and previously served as ambassador to the United Nations and Egypt.

AFP