Africa's latest woman Foreign Affairs minister is Tanzania's Liberata Mulamula

Tanzanian diplomat Liberata Mulamula was on Wednesday March 31 named as a Member of Parliament and the foreign minister replacing Prof Palamagamba Kabudi who now takes over as minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs.

Ambassador Mulamula 65, is set to be sworn-in on Thursday April 1, at State House Dodoma.

She becomes the 16th foreign affairs minister and only the second woman to serve in that position after Dr Asha-Rose Migiro who was at the helm between January 2006 and January 11, 2007.

Ambassador Mulamula is a skilled career diplomat with 35 years of experience is now tasked to head Tanzania’s diplomacy given her vast experience of working in foreign missions

Over the years she has served in various capacities at the Tanzania Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its Diplomatic missions in New York (Permanent Mission to the UN), Canada and the USA.

She joins a growing list of African female Foreign Affairs Ministers which includes Kenya's Raychelle Omamo, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey of Ghana, Naledi Pandor of South Africa and ‘Matšepo Molise-Ramakoae of Lesotho.

The Appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Hon. Amb. Liberatha Mulamula swearing in as Member of Parliament for the United Republic of Tanzania pic.twitter.com/ddcOG6sIcr

— ForeignTanzania (@foreigntanzania) April 1, 2021

More about Tanzania's top diplomat

She has also served as the first Executive Secretary of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region of Africa for Peace, Stability and Development with headquarters in Bujumbura, Burundi. In this position, she oversaw 11 countries from 2006-2011.

She also served as the first Executive Secretary of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR).

Before retirement in April 2016, her other senior posts included the executive ministerial post of Permanent Secretary of the Tanzania Ministry of Foreign Affairs (May to December 2015).

She provided managerial and administrative leadership to the Ministry’s staff and Tanzania Diplomatic Envoys abroad. She was also the Tanzania Ambassador to the United States of America and Mexico (July 2013 to May 2015), having served as Special Advisor to His Excellency President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of Tanzania on all Diplomatic matters (2012-2013).

While at the State House, she successfully coordinated the visits of President Xi Jiping of China and President Barack Obama to Tanzania in July 2013, as well as the visits of other heads of state and high officials.

During her tenure in Washington as Tanzania Ambassador to the USA, Ambassador Mulamula participated actively in the preparations for the first U.S.-Africa Summit on the partnership for economic growth.

She has attended the successive AU Summits, UN General Assembly sessions in New York and other multilateral gatherings, as well as various regional meetings and initiatives on peace and sustainable development.

Ambassador Mulamula is a graduate of St. John’s University in New York where she obtained an M.A. in Government and Politics, as well as a postgraduate diploma in International Law.

She received her B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from University of Dar-es Salaam.