The deputy minister of education in Equatorial Guinea, Manuela Roka Botey, has been named prime minister by president Teodoro Obiang Nguema, marking the inaugural instance a woman has occupied this role in the West African country.
Late on Tuesday, state television announced Botey’s new role.
With 95% of the ballots, Obiang, 80, was re-elected for a sixth consecutive term in November, reinforcing his status as the globe’s longest-serving leader.
At that time, the United States expressed “serious reservations regarding the validity of the declared results” in the election and urged officials to engage with all parties to address claims of electoral fraud.
This nation of approximately 1.5 million has had merely two presidents since gaining independence from Spain in 1968.
Obiang dethroned his uncle, Francisco Macias Nguema, in a coup in August 1979. (Reuters/NAN)
