Ethiopia’s prime minister created a new Ministry of Peace and handed half the posts in his cabinet to women in a sweeping cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday as he sought to tackle a wave of ethnic violence.

Abiy Ahmed - who has turned the region’s politics on its head with a string of reforms since being appointed in April - named new finance and defense ministers in an overhaul that left only four of the appointments unchanged.

“The main problem in this country is the lack of peace. This (peace) ministry will be working hard to ensure it prevails,” Abiy told lawmakers.

About 2.2 million people out of a population of 100 million have been displaced by violence since last year, much of it between rival ethnic groups.

The new peace ministry will be led by former parliament speaker Muferiat Kamil, with her office now presiding over Ethiopia’s Federal Police Commission, the National Intelligence and Security Service and the Information Network Security Agency, the government said.

Since his appointment, Abiy has made peace with neighbor Eritrea and presided over the partial privatization of economic sectors such as telecommunications. (Reuters)