Eritrea-born woman elected German MP

Following Sunday's German elections, Green party politician Awet Tesfaiesus will become the first African-born black female MP in the country's parliament, known as the Bundestag.

Since graduating from Frankfurt University in 2006, the 47-year-old has been practising law, often representing asylum seekers and refugees, local media report.

Born in Eritrea, she migrated to Germany with her family at the age of six and grew up in Heidelberg.

A member of the Greens since 2009, she was thrust into active politics following the Hanau shooting, just outside Frankfurt, in 2020 in which a neo-Nazi sympathiser killed at least nine people.

Her name, Awet, in her native Eritrean Tigrinya language means victory.

Negotiaitons to form the next German government are on-going but Ms Awet's party is likely to lay a key part.

Last year another Eritrean made headlines after he became the first African-born member of New Zealand’s parliament. Ibrahim Omer is a member of the Labour Party.