Women make up over thirty percent of Burundi’s new cabinet according to a government release issued over the weekend.

President Evariste Ndayishimiye in a decree nominated a sixteen-member cabinet to help run government business.

The cabinet is also inclusive of the Prime Minister Alain-Guillaume Bunyoni and Vice President Prosper Bazombanza.

The women in Ndayishimiye’s cabinet

Minister of Health: Thaddée Ndikumana

Minister of Justice: Madame Jeanine Nibizi

Minister of Public Service, Labor and Employment: Madame Domine Banyankimbona

Minister of Commerce, Transport, Industry and Tourism: Hon. Immaculate Ndabaneze

Minister of National Solidarity, Social Affairs, Human Rights and Gender: Madame Immelde Sabushimike

Minister of Communication, Information Technologies and Media: Mrs. Marie Chantal Nijimbere

Sanctioned figures listed, tasks ahead

A former police chief Gervais Ndirakobuca – now minister for interior and security – and PM Bunyoni are currently under US and EU sanctions for their roles in repression and rights violations in 2015.

The task ahead of the cabinet includes turning around the country’s economy, security and resetting Burundi’s relations with its neighbours and in the East Africa region at large.