47 Facts About Catherine Samba-Panza

Catherine Samba-Panza is a Central African politician who served as Transitional President of the Central African Republic from 2014 to 2016.

Catherine Samba-Panza was the first woman to serve as head of state in the Central African Republic.

Catherine Samba-Panza was chosen in 2003 to serve as the vice president of a national reconciliation conference, and she was then chosen as president of the subsequent committee to implement the conference's recommendations.

Catherine Samba-Panza was appointed mayor of Bangui in 2013 after the city was devastated by the Central African Republic Civil War.

Catherine Samba-Panza was then appointed to serve as transitional president of the Central African Republic in 2014.

Catherine Samba-Panza was tasked with restoring stability to the nation by disarming militant groups, and she emphasized the nation's economic recovery through employment and foreign aid.

Catherine Samba-Panza Souga was born on 26 June 1954 in Fort Lamy, French Chad, as the second oldest of her parents' six children.

Catherine Samba-Panza was raised in N'Djamena until the age of either 16 or 18, when the family decided to move to Bangui, Central African Republic.

Catherine Samba-Panza then moved to Paris to study journalism and law and graduated from a diploma of specialized higher studies in insurance law from Pantheon-Assas University in 1981.

Catherine Samba-Panza was married to her first husband, Jean-Claude Sappot, while working and studying in France.

Catherine Samba-Panza then joined the Allianz's "AGF Centrafrique Assurances" subsidiary, where she worked from 1989 until 2007.

Catherine Samba-Panza founded her own brokerage firm, CSP Assurances-Conseils, but reportedly found that corruption made it difficult to operate such a company in the Central African Republic.

In 1998, Catherine Samba-Panza married her second husband, Cyriaque Catherine Samba-Panza, a former CAR government official whom Jeune Afrique described as a "well-known political figure" within the country.

Cyriaque Catherine Samba-Panza has served as a government minister for several tenures under former Presidents Andre Kolingba and Francois Bozize, beginning with Secretary of State for Planning, Statistics and International Cooperation in 1987.

Catherine Samba-Panza entered civil society at this time, working with non-governmental organizations.

Catherine Samba-Panza placed particular emphasis on work as a women's rights advocate.

Catherine Samba-Panza has called for economic support for women in Africa, demanding that African governments do more to further women-owned businesses.

Catherine Samba-Panza has said that she was able to escape some of the discrimination faced by women because she "was always a fighter", and she has lamented that many women in the CAR "don't know their rights so they can't defend them".

Catherine Samba-Panza took her first political position in 2003, when she was named the vice president of a national reconciliation conference by President Francois Bozize after he seized power in a coup.

Catherine Samba-Panza was then chosen as the president of the committee to implement the conference's recommendations.

Catherine Samba-Panza was appointed mayor of Bangui in May 2013 by the government of Michel Djotodia after he seized power in a coup.

Catherine Samba-Panza was succeeded as mayor by Hyacinthe Wodobode, who was appointed on 14 February 2014.

Catherine Samba-Panza was chosen as the interim president, replacing acting president Alexandre-Ferdinand Nguendet.

Catherine Samba-Panza was chosen from a list of eight candidates who had to prove they had no links to either the Seleka or the Anti-balaka.

Catherine Samba-Panza later said that she accepted the position because she "couldn't stand by and do nothing while [her] country fell into chaos".

Catherine Samba-Panza's call for talks between both sides to the conflict was welcomed by the parties.

Catherine Samba-Panza was sworn in as President on 23 January 2014, with a mandate to serve until the next election, which was scheduled for 2015.

Catherine Samba-Panza took office during a period of lawlessness in which religious violence took place between Christian and Muslims and the government's control over the nation had collapsed.

Catherine Samba-Panza suggested poverty and a failure of governance were the causes of the conflict.

Catherine Samba-Panza has spoken of Johnson Sirleaf as a role model.

Catherine Samba-Panza leaned into the maternal role, believing it to be more efficient for fostering peace than acting as a more traditional leader.

Catherine Samba-Panza believed the two to be connected, as former militants had been left unemployed and still had the potential to commit acts of violence.

Catherine Samba-Panza described her intentions during her tenure as being "to bring back peace and stability, to boost the economy and to gradually restore the rule of law".

Catherine Samba-Panza argued that she did not have a political bias because her experience was in civil society instead of politics, and she likewise took on an anti-corruption platform because of her experiences in the private sector.

Catherine Samba-Panza weighed this against crimes committed by some French soldiers, saying that they made up a small number and had to be held responsible individually instead of as a group.

Catherine Samba-Panza then replaced him with Mahamat Kamoun, a Muslim, in August 2014.

Catherine Samba-Panza authorized the creation of a Special Criminal Court in June 2015 to prosecute "grave international crimes committed since 2003" in conjunction with the United Nations.

Catherine Samba-Panza served as president until 30 March 2016, when Faustin-Archange Touadera was sworn in as her successor.

Catherine Samba-Panza stayed in Bangui after leaving office, and she remained involved with the government as an advisor in areas such as peace mediation.

Catherine Samba-Panza became an election observer with the Carter Center, overseeing elections in countries such as Liberia, Senegal, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Catherine Samba-Panza took on leadership roles in intergovernmental organizations after she left office, becoming president of the Pan African Women's Leadership Observatory and co-chair of the African Union Network for Conflict Prevention and Mediation.

On 28 August, Catherine Samba-Panza announced that she would be running in the 2020 presidential election.

Catherine Samba-Panza justified her campaign by saying that "many appealed from all sides of the political spectrum" for her to run, and she touted her willingness to step down in 2016 as a reason to trust her.

Catherine Samba-Panza campaigned on security and economic development, saying that her successor failed to bring these things about.

Catherine Samba-Panza was the only woman to run in the election.

Catherine Samba-Panza was one of several political opposition figures who were barred from leaving the country in January 2021.

Catherine Samba-Panza was not given an explanation at the time, but the government later stated that there were ongoing investigations into opposition leaders for alleged involvement with armed groups.