Africa has gotten a lone female president after the election of Sahle-Work Zewde by members of the Ethiopian parliament as the country’s first female president.
Her election to the ceremonial position comes in the morning hours of Thursday October 25, weeks after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed appointed a cabinet with half the posts taken up by women.
She was voted in after the unexpected resignation of her predecessor, Mulatu Teshome.
Ms Sahle-Work’s appointment has been welcomed by Ethiopians on social media with many calling it “historic”.
She has been described as Ethiopia’s first female Head of State of the modern era, with some remembering Empress Zewditu, who governed the country in the early part of the 20th Century.
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Ms Sahle-Work is an experienced diplomat who has now become Africa’s only female head of state.
Prior to her appointment as president, Ms Sahle-Work was the UN representative at the African Union.
The new president has promised to work hard to make gender equality a reality in Ethiopia.
Worthy of note is the fact that she is Africa’s only female president after the resignation of Mauritian Ameenah Gurib-Fakim in March, over an expenses scandal which she denied.
