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Ethiopia’s parliament approved a new president to replace one widely seen as controversial, amid ongoing political disagreements with the government.
Sahle-Work Zewde, a former United Nations diplomat, was replaced by Taye Atskeselassie, who had served as foreign minister for the past eight months.
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The role of the president in Ethiopia is largely ceremonial, with limited political authority. Executive power is mainly exercised by the Prime Minister. Sahle-Work became Ethiopia’s first female president in 2018.
The outgoing president was appointed during the early years of Abiy Ahmed’s premiership, which saw prominent women appointed to key positions as part of a government that sought to embrace gender equality for the first time.
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Although the position of president is symbolic, Sahle-Work’s appointment was seen as groundbreaking. It was hoped that at the end of their careers she would make a positive impact on a position usually held by male politicians.
But her tenure coincided with bloody conflicts – first the two-year war in the northern Tigray region, which ended in 2022, and then fighting in the neighboring Amhara region.
Sahle-Work was heavily criticized for its silence, especially on issues of gender violence during the Tigray war, which killed thousands of people and displaced millions. According to estimates by Genocide Watch, a non-governmental organization, more than 120,000 women were sexually assaulted during the conflict.