Former local government minister Prof Anastase Shyaka is Rwanda’s new envoy to the Republic of Poland, while the former Health Minister Dr Diane Gashumba is the country’s envoy to the Kingdom of Sweden.

These are among the new appointments announced after the cabinet meeting that convened on Saturday, June 12.

A medical doctor by training, Gashumba left cabinet in February 2020, having served as Health Minister since October 2016. 

Prior to that, she worked as the Minister of Gender and Family Promotion from March 2016.

She is a pediatrician by profession with 17 years of experience in global, maternal, newborn and child health, according to the Ministry of Health.

In that way, she previously worked as the senior team leader of the USAID-funded Rwanda Family Health project which focused on improving health, family planning and reproductive health among others.

She holds a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Rwanda and a Masters in Medicine specializing in Pediatrics.

Shyaka was the Local Government Minister from October 2018 to March 2021. 

Prior to that, he worked as CEO of Rwanda Governance Board since 2011. 

As a professor of political science, he was also once the Director of the Center for Conflict Management at the University of Rwanda.

Meanwhile, the cabinet also appointed the former CEO of Crystal Ventures, James Gatera as the new ambassador to the state of Israel. 

Gatera also previously worked as CEO of Bank of Kigali.

Michel Minega Sebera who was the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Commerce has been appointed as the Minister-Counselor in the Rwanda Embassy in the Kingdom of Netherlands whereas Winnie Ngamije was appointed as the Deputy Director-General of Rwandan Civil Aviation Authority.

Winnie Ngamije.

Ngamije has been working as an engineer at Rwanda Airports Company.

Meanwhile, the meeting also approved Antoine Anfre as the Ambassador of France to Rwanda whereas Dragos Viorel Radu Tigau has been approved as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Romania in the Republic of Rwanda with residence in Kenya.

Anfre will be the first French ambassador to Rwanda since 2015 due to frosty relations that have existed between both countries since the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. 

Both countries are currently working to mend the ties and French President Emmanuel Macron visited Rwanda last month.