Sahle-Work Zewde becomes Ethiopia's first female president
Source: BBC
Ethiopian members of parliament have elected Sahle-Work Zewde as the country's first female president.
Ms Sahle-Work is an experienced diplomat who has now become Africa's only female head of state.
Her election to the ceremonial position comes a week after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed appointed a cabinet with half the posts taken up by women.
After being sworn in, President Sahle-Work promised to work hard to make gender equality a reality in Ethiopia.
Addressing parliament, she also pledged to promote peace: "I urge you all, to uphold our peace, in the name of a mother, who is the first to suffer from the absence of peace.''
Fighting for women's rights
By Bekele Atoma, BBC Afaan Oromoo
The new president was keen to make a point about gender equality right from the start, telling MPs that if they thought she was talking too much about women, she had only just begun.
There may now be male-female parity in the new cabinet but elsewhere there is still a long way to go.
Click here to read the full article published by the BBC on 25 October 2018.
Ethiopian members of parliament have elected Sahle-Work Zewde as the country's first female president.
Ms Sahle-Work is an experienced diplomat who has now become Africa's only female head of state.
Her election to the ceremonial position comes a week after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed appointed a cabinet with half the posts taken up by women.
After being sworn in, President Sahle-Work promised to work hard to make gender equality a reality in Ethiopia.
Addressing parliament, she also pledged to promote peace: "I urge you all, to uphold our peace, in the name of a mother, who is the first to suffer from the absence of peace.''
Fighting for women's rights
By Bekele Atoma, BBC Afaan Oromoo
The new president was keen to make a point about gender equality right from the start, telling MPs that if they thought she was talking too much about women, she had only just begun.
There may now be male-female parity in the new cabinet but elsewhere there is still a long way to go.
Click here to read the full article published by the BBC on 25 October 2018.