Ethiopian lawmakers on Monday chose Foreign Minister Atske Selassie as the country’s new president — a largely ceremonial role — leaving Africa with only one female head of state.
Atske Selassie replaced Sahle-Work Zewde, 74, a respected former diplomat who had served as president since 2018.
That leaves Tanzania as the only African country with a woman as president, Samia Suluhu Hassan.
Sahle-Work took on the presidency shortly after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s rise to power in 2018.
Her appointment helped burnish Abiy’s credentials with Western governments, along with his economic reforms, the appointment of a gender-equal cabinet and a peace deal with Eritrea that saw him awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
But a brutal war against rebels in the Tigray region between 2020 and 2022 and ongoing conflicts against other ethnic groups have badly damaged his international standing, leading to sanctions being imposed by the United States.
Taye, 68, becomes the fifth president since Ethiopia adopted its current constitution in 1995. He can hold the office for a maximum of two six-year terms.
He was appointed to the foreign ministry only in February and has previously served as ambassador to the United Nations and Egypt.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Is Anthony Odiong still a priest after life in prison sentence over rape?")