ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has appointed the former head of war-hit Tigray’s interim administration as defence minister, one of several shake-ups in his new government’s 22-member cabinet.
Abiy, who was sworn in for his first full five-year term on Monday after his party won a landslide victory in a June election, also tapped a new head for the peace ministry.
The cabinet was approved on Wednesday by a majority vote in the lower house of parliament, with two votes against and 12 abstentions. Abiy’s choice for the defence ministry was Abraham Belay, who had previously served as the federally appointed head of the northern region of Tigray.
He had previously served with Abiy at the cyber-espionage Information Network Security Agency and as minister of innovation and technology, a cabinet position Abiy also once held. Binalf Andualem was selected to lead the peace ministry. The position has often served as the public face of humanitarian operations in northern Ethiopia, where the United Nations estimates 11 months of conflict have driven hundreds of thousands of people into famine-like conditions.–Agencies
