The newly appointed Ethiopia’ s President Sahle – Work Zewde on Thursday stressed unity among Ethiopians and the need to sustain the ongoing reform in the country .
Zewde was elected as the east African country ’ s first female president following the official resignation of the former President Mulatu Teshome on Thursday.
She stated this while addressing the two parliament houses – the Ethiopian House of People’ s Representatives and the Ethiopian House of Federation , the lower and upper houses respectively.
The President, in her acceptance speech before the two houses , vowed to serve her country and its people with her utmost efforts.
She also stressed the need to maintain the longstanding unity among Ethiopians as well as sustain the ongoing reform of the Ethiopian government and the governance structure.
She added that “ the ongoing reform process , which embraces equal representation of women as well as people from different ethnic groups , will lead us to realize a prosperous , developed and united Ethiopia in the near future. ”
Zewde, who is a well- regarded diplomat representing Ethiopia at global , continental and regional organizations including the UN and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development , had also served as Ethiopia’ s ambassador to various countries.
She had also served as Ethiopia’ s envoy at the AU.
UN Secretary -General , Antonio Guterres in June 2018 appointed Zewde as his Special Representative to the AU and Head of the UN Office to the AU at the level of Under- Secretary -General.
The appointment of Zewde, 68, came shortly after the approval of Teshome’ s resignation request by the two houses ’ joint extraordinary session.
Source: Punch
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