Democratic Republic of Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi has appointed the country’s first-ever female prime minister, naming planning minister Judith Suminwa to the role.
An economist, she takes over as prime minister from Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde, following Tshisekedi’s sweeping re-election as president on December 20. Tshisekedi officially triumphed with 73.47 percent of the vote in December, and the election passed largely peacefully in a country long torn by violence and instability. The opposition branded the ballot a sham.
Tshisekedi first became president in 2019 promising to improve living conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)—which boasts mineral riches but has a largely impoverished population—and put an end to 25 years of bloodshed in the east. The president failed to keep those promises, but he campaigned for a second term on his achievements such as free primary medication, asking for another mandate to “consolidate” the progress.
According to the United Nations, some seven million people have been internally displaced by conflict in the DRC, one of the world’s poorest countries.
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