Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Tuesday unveiled a downsized cabinet where, in a first, half the members are women, a top official said.
Women occupy key positions in the 20-member cabinet that includes a newly created Ministry of Peace to oversee the federal police and intelligence agencies, Abiys Chief of Staff Fitsum Arega said.
Ethiopia is now the second African nation after Rwanda to achieve gender parity in its cabinet, and one of only a handful of nations to achieve this worldwide.
“Women are assigned to run key ministerial portfolios including ministries of Peace, Trade and Industry, and Defense,” he tweeted.
The new Minister of National Defense, Aisha Mohammed, is the first woman to hold the post.
Aisha was earlier construction minister and before that in charge of the tourism ministry. She is from the drought-prone and poor Afar region, where she had once headed the disaster prevention office.
Minister of Peace Muferiat Kamil is a former speaker of parliament.
The previous cabinet had 28 ministers, of which only five were women.
Kenya currently also has a female defense minister, Raychelle Omamo, while South Africa, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Madagascar, Sao Tome and Principe, Gabon, Nigeria and Central African Republic have all in the past appointed women to the job.
The shakeup is the latest in a series of dramatic reforms implemented by Abiy since he took office in April after more than two years of anti-government unrest that contributed to his predecessors sudden resignation.
The prime ministers measures have included ending two decades of conflict with neighboring Eritrea, releasing jailed dissidents, welcoming formerly banned groups back into the country and announcing plans to privatize major state-owned industries.
Abiy, 42, took office after anti-government protests began in late 2015 by Ethiopias two largest ethnic groups against the heavy-handed rule of the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which controls every seat in parliament together with its allies.
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Last Update: Wednesday, 17 October 2018 KSA 23:47 – GMT 20:47
