Ethiopia’s prime minister created a new “Ministry of Peace” in a sweeping cabinet reshuffle as he seeks to tackle a wave of ethnic violence.
Abiy Ahmed – who turned regional politics on its head with a string of reforms since being appointed in April – named new finance and defence ministers in an overhaul that kept only four former ministers.
Abiy merged ministries to cut the cabinet to 20 from 28 and for the first time handed half the top jobs to women.
“The main problem in this country is the lack of peace. The peace ministry will work hard to ensure it prevails,” Abiy told lawmakers.
About 2.2 million people out of a population of 100 million have been displaced since clashes broke out last year, many between rival ethnic groups.
The new peace ministry will be led by former parliament speaker Muferiat Kamil and will oversee the intelligence and security agencies, government said.
Since his appointment, Abiy made peace with neighbour Eritrea and presided over the partial privatisation of key economic sectors such as telecommunications.
He also extended an olive branch to several rebel groups and promised to rein in the powerful security agencies. The changes have not stopped ethnically-charged violence, some escalating since he was named premier.
Former construction minister Aisha Mohammed was named defence minister – the first woman to hold that position in the country.
Ahmed Shide, previously a deputy minister of finance and government spokesman, replaced Abraham Tekeste as finance minister.
The economy has grown by almost 10% on average for the past decade, official data shows, but recent unrest led to concerns over long-term stability.
The prime minister also named new ministers of agriculture, culture and tourism, education, labour, mines, planning and development, revenue, science, trade, transport, urban development and women’s affairs – a mixture of new names and reshuffled ministers.
He kept Workneh Gebeyehu as foreign minister, Amir Aman as health minister and Seleshi Bekele as water and electricity minister, as well as Berhanu Tsegaye as attorney general.
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