PORT LOUIS: Prominent scientist Ameenah Gurib-Fakim was sworn as president of Mauritius on Friday, becoming the first women to hold the ceremonial position in the Indian Ocean island nation.

“My ambition is to bring the Mauritian nation together around the national flag,” Gurib-Fakim after her inauguration, held at the presidency outside the capital Port Louis.

She said she was dedicating her appointment to her parents, “who had the vision to educate their daughter at a time when it was boys who were given the priority,” and added she was “proud and filled with humility”.

Gurib-Fakim, 56, is the first female president of the island, which gained independence from Britain in 1968 and replaced Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state in 1992.

Mauritius is one of the richest — and least corrupt — countries in Africa, a middle-income nation of some 1.3 million people with a per capita GDP of just over $9,000.

Published in Dawn June 6th, 2015

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