Just In: Sahle-Work Zewde Ethiopias first female president
News & Trends •
in a patriarchal society such as ours the appointment of a female head of state not only sets the standard for the future but also normalises women as decision-makers in public life1 ethiopias parliament today approved sahle-work zewde as the countrys new president the first woman to hold the post1 she replaces mulatu teshome wirtu who tendered his resignation to parliament earlier on wednesday. wirtu had been president since 20131 fitsum arega chief of staff to prime minister abiy ahmed described the appointment of sahle-work as historic1 in a tweet today arega said in a historic move the two houses have elected ambassador sahle-work zewde as the next president of ethiopia1 she is the first female head of state in modern ethiopia. a career diplomat1 sahle-work who was born 21 february 1950 in addis ababa is at present u.n. under secretary general and special representative of the secretary general to the african union1 woyzero sahle-work zewde studied natural science at the university of montpellier france. she is fluent in amharic french and english1 she is a veteran ethiopian diplomat. she was once ambassador to senegal with accreditation to mali cape verde guinea-bissau gambia and guinea from 1989 to 19931 from 1993 to 2002 she was ambassador to djibouti and permanent representative to the intergovernmental authority on development igad1 she later served as ambassador to france permanent representative to the united nations educational scientific and cultural organization unesco and accredited to tunisia and morocco from 2002 to 20061 zewde served as special representative and head of the united nations integrated peace building office in the central african republic binuca. previously she also held a number of other high level positions including as permanent representative of ethiopia to the african union and the united nations economic commission for africa eca and as director-general for african affairs in the ministry of foreign affairs of ethiopia1 in 2011 zewde was appointed to the position of director-general of the united nations office at nairobi unon by the united nations secretary-general ban ki-moon. she was the first person to hold the post at the level of under-secretary-general1