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Catherine Samba-Panza
Samba-Panza in 2014
Transitional President of the Central African Republic
In office
23 January 2014 – 30 March 2016
Prime MinisterAndré Nzapayeké
Mahamat Kamoun
Preceded byAlexandre-Ferdinand Nguendet (Acting)
Succeeded byFaustin-Archange Touadéra
Mayor of Bangui
In office
14 June 2013 – 23 January 2014
Preceded byNazaire Yalanga Nganaféï[1]
Succeeded byHyacinthe Wodobodé
Personal details
Born (1954-06-26) 26 June 1954 (age 70)
Fort Lamy, French Equatorial Africa (present-day N'Djamena, Chad)
Political partyIndependent
SpouseCyriaque Samba-Panza
Children3
Alma materPanthéon-Assas University
Signature

Catherine Samba-Panza (née Souga; born 26 June 1954) is a Central African politician who served as Transitional President of the Central African Republic from 2014 to 2016. She was the first woman to serve as head of state in the Central African Republic. Prior to her tenure as acting president, she was the Mayor of Bangui from 2013 to 2014.

Samba-Panza began her career operating an insurance brokerage and working as a women's rights advocate. She 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. She was appointed mayor of Bangui in 2013 after the city was devastated by the Central African Republic Civil War. She was then appointed to serve as transitional president of the Central African Republic in 2014. She 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. Her term ended in 2016. She was a presidential candidate in the 2020–21 election, but she was unsuccessful.

Early life and career

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Catherine Souga was born on 26 June 1954 in Fort Lamy, French Chad, to a mother from Ubangi-Shari—later the Central African Republic (CAR)—and a father from French Cameroon.[2] She moved to the CAR at the age of 18.[3] She studied corporate law in Bangui,[4] and she then studied insurance law at Panthéon-Assas University in France. After university, she returned to the CAR in 1990 and began working for Allianz.[5] She then founded an insurance brokerage. After entering the industry, she found that corruption made it difficult to operate such a company.[6] She is married to Cyriaque Samba-Panza, a former CAR government official, and she has three children.[2]

Samba-Panza also entered civil society at this time, working with non-governmental organizations.[7][8] She placed particular emphasis on work as a women's rights advocate.[7][9] She affiliated with the women's rights group, the Association of Women Lawyers of Central Africa, and with this group she supported women in government, assistance for sexual violence victims, and the end of female genital mutilation.[5][8] Samba-Panza has also called for economic support for women in Africa, demanding that African governments do more to further women-owned businesses.[10] She 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".[7]

Samba-Panza took her first political position in 2003, when she was named the vice president of a national reconciliation conference by President François Bozizé after he seized power in a coup.[9] She was then chosen as the president of the committee to implement the conference's recommendations.[5]

Mayor of Bangui

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Samba-Panza was appointed mayor of Bangui in May 2013 by the government of Michel Djotodia after he seized power in a coup.[5] She took office on 14 June 2013.[11][12] Though she was a Christian, her appointment was accepted by both the Muslim Séléka and the Christian Anti-balaka factions due to her reputation for neutrality.[13][14] While serving as mayor, she insisted that she would step down as soon as elections were held.[15]

As the interim mayor, Samba-Panza was tasked with rebuilding the city after it was devastated by the Central African Republic Civil War. All of the city's funds and supplies had been looted, and much of its infrastructure had been destroyed. Her strategy to address the city's funding problem included raising taxes and courting foreign aid.[15] For her work, she came to be known as "the courageous mayor".[14] She was succeeded as mayor by Hyacinthe Wodobodé, who was appointed on 14 February 2014.[16]

Transitional president

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Taking office

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Samba-Panza with African Union soldiers in 2014

Following an escalation of the conflict in the CAR, Djotodia stepped down after nine months in power.[17] Samba-Panza was chosen as the interim president, replacing acting president Alexandre-Ferdinand Nguendet.[18] She was chosen from a list of eight candidates who had to prove they had no links to either the Séléka or the Anti-balaka.[19] Samba-Panza later said that she accepted the position because she "couldn't stand by and do nothing while [her] country fell into chaos".[14] Her call for talks between both sides to the conflict was welcomed by the parties.[20] After beating Désiré Kolingba in a second round ballot 75 to 53, she said:[13]

"I call on my children, especially the anti-balaka, to put down their arms and stop all the fighting. The same goes for the ex-Séléka – they should not have fear. I don't want to hear any more talk of murders and killings. Starting today, I am the president of all Central Africans, without exclusion."

Samba-Panza was sworn in as President on 23 January 2014,[21] with a mandate to serve until the next election, which was scheduled for 2015.[17] On the day of her inauguration, civil conflict killed an estimated sixteen people within the capital's suburbs. Her appointment as president was seen as a positive change by observers and foreign investors, as she was chosen for popular support rather than taking power by force.[17]

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.[22] She suggested poverty and a failure of governance were the causes of the conflict.[23] Upon taking office, Samba-Panza was the first woman to become the country's president.[22] At the time, she was one of three female heads of state in Africa, after Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in Liberia and Joyce Banda in Malawi. Samba-Panza has spoken of Johnson Sirleaf as a role model.[7] Her status as a female leader in a time of crisis was seen as symbolic among citizens, who felt that a woman and mother may be better equipped to bring peace between warring factions.[14][17][22] For this reason, she was nicknamed Mother Courage.[17] She leaned into the maternal role, believing it to be more efficient for fostering peace than acting as a more traditional leader.[14]

Tenure

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Samba-Panza with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in 2016

As president, Samba-Panza declared that her first priorities were to restore security and employment.[6] She believed the two to be connected, as former militants had been left unemployed and still had the potential to commit acts of violence.[9] 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".[24] Samba-Panza argued that she did not have a political bias because her experience was in civil society instead of politics,[7] and she likewise took on an anti-corruption platform because of her experiences in the private sector.[6]

As the CAR had no funds of its own, Samba-Panza's government relied entirely on foreign aid.[9] Samba-Panza welcomed the French intervention in the CAR. She 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.[24]

André Nzapayeké, a Christian, was appointed as Prime Minister to serve during her tenure. Samba-Panza then replaced him with Mahamat Kamoun, a Muslim, in August 2014.[25] As the Séléka had no ties to Kamoun, it threatened to boycott the government and withdraw from the ceasefire.[26] 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.[27] A surge of violence in September 2015 caused hundreds of protesters to demand Samba-Panza's resignation,[28] and Human Rights Watch determined by the end of the year that Samba-Panza's administration had "struggled to establish security".[27] Critics of her presidency feel that it did not meet the hopeful expectations that it set.[29]

The 2015 general election was scheduled for February 2015. As the interim president, Samba-Panza was ineligible to run.[17] It was postponed several times because of violence in the capital.[30] The election was held in December 2015, but irregularities necessitated a second round of elections, which was held in February 2016.[24] By the end of her tenure, she considered several objectives unfinished. These included disarmament and reintegration of militants, security reform, humanitarianism, and national reconciliation.[24] During the disarmament process, Samba-Panza dismissed the idea of using force against those who did not turn in their weapons.[31] Samba-Panza served as president until 30 March 2016, when Faustin-Archange Touadéra was sworn in as her successor.[32]

Post-presidency

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Presidential campaign logo

Samba-Panza stayed in Bangui after leaving office,[33] and she remained involved with the government as an advisor in areas such as peace mediation.[14] She became an election observer with the Carter Center, overseeing elections in countries such as Liberia,[33] Senegal,[34] and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[35] She also 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.[36]

On 28 August, Samba-Panza announced that she would be running in the 2020 presidential election.[37] She 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.[38] Samba-Panza campaigned on security and economic development, saying that her successor failed to bring these things about. She was the only woman to run in the election.[39] Samba-Panza was unsuccessful, receiving 5,526 votes, only 0.86% of the total votes cast.[40]

Samba-Panza was one of several political opposition figures who were barred from leaving the country in January 2021. She 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.[41][42]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Nazaire Yalanga nouveau maire de Bangui, exit Ngoumbé Ketté". Radio Ndeke Luka (in French). 5 July 2011. Archived from the original on 23 October 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  2. ^ a b "100Women | Avance Media | H.E Catherine Samba-Panza". Archived from the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  3. ^ Ngoupana, Paul-Marin (20 January 2014). "Une femme élue à la présidence en Centrafrique". Le Point (in French). Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
  4. ^ Perrin, Olivier (21 January 2014). "Une "maire courage" pour réconcilier ses enfants de République centrafricaine". Le Soir (in French). Archived from the original on 22 January 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2014.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. ^ a b c d "#ellessimposent : Catherine Samba-Panza, de la présidence centrafricaine au leadership féminin". information.tv5monde.com (in French). 2 November 2017. Archived from the original on 23 October 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  6. ^ a b c "Catherine Samba-Panza sworn in as new CAR president". France 24. 23 January 2014. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  7. ^ a b c d e Smith, David (2 March 2014). "Can Catherine Samba-Panza save the Central African Republic?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 20 September 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  8. ^ a b Heath-Brown, Nick (2017). The Statesman's Yearbook 2016: The Politics, Cultures and Economies of the World. Springer. p. 306. ISBN 978-1-349-57823-8.
  9. ^ a b c d "CAR – Catherine Samba-Panza". Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series. 51 (1). 2014. doi:10.1111/j.1467-825X.2014.05506.x. ISSN 0001-9844. Archived from the original on 23 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  10. ^ "African Women Entrepreneurs Call for Support of Africa Free Trade". VOA. 17 November 2022. Archived from the original on 23 October 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  11. ^ Duhem, Vincent (20 January 2014). "Centrafrique : 5 choses à savoir sur Catherine Samba Panza, la nouvelle présidente de transition". Jeune Afrique (in French). Archived from the original on 7 June 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2014.
  12. ^ "Catherine Samba Panza prête serment à Bangui" (in French). Radio Ndeke Luka. 14 June 2013. Archived from the original on 18 June 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  13. ^ a b "Central African Republic MPs elect Catherine Samba-Panza". BBC World News. 20 January 2014. Archived from the original on 25 April 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  14. ^ a b c d e f ""I called all my children to lay down their arms"". Crisis Management Initiative. 13 April 2017. Archived from the original on 6 June 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
  15. ^ a b "En Centrafrique, une maire courage". La Croix (in French). 8 July 2013. ISSN 0242-6056. Archived from the original on 23 October 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  16. ^ Arsenault, Claire (8 February 2014). "En Centrafrique, Hyacinthe Wodobodé, une nouvelle maire pour Bangui". rfi.fr (in French). RFI. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  17. ^ a b c d e f Smith, David (25 January 2014). "Central African Republic's 'Mother Courage' fights to bring peace where the men have failed". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Archived from the original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  18. ^ Ngoupana, Paul-Marin (20 January 2014). "Central African Republic's capital tense as ex-leader heads into exile". Uk.reuters.com. Archived from the original on 14 February 2014. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  19. ^ "CAR appoints Bangui mayor as interim leader". Al Jazeera English. 20 January 2014. Archived from the original on 23 January 2014. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  20. ^ "CAR leader pledges talks with armed groups". Al Jazeera English. Archived from the original on 20 February 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  21. ^ "New CAR leader sworn in as tensions escalate". Al Jazeera English. 23 January 2014. Archived from the original on 24 January 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  22. ^ a b c Nossiter, Adam (20 January 2014). "Woman Chosen to Lead Central African Republic Out of Mayhem". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 23 October 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  23. ^ "Politics blamed for CAR divisions". Archived from the original on 7 June 2015. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  24. ^ a b c d Quenum, Fréjus (16 February 2016). "Samba-Panza: "I have accomplished my mission"". DW. Archived from the original on 13 February 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  25. ^ "CAR president appoints first Muslim PM". Al Jazeera. 16 November 2015. Archived from the original on 13 February 2015. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  26. ^ "Seleka ex-rebels refuse to join new CAR government". The M&G Online. 11 August 2014. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  27. ^ a b "Central African Republic Events of 2015". Human Rights Watch. 2016. Archived from the original on 23 October 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  28. ^ "Eye on Africa - Samba-Panza: Former officials are 'trying to return to power'". France 24. 28 September 2015. Archived from the original on 23 October 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  29. ^ "#ellessimposent : Catherine Samba-Panza, de la présidence centrafricaine au leadership féminin | TV5MONDE - Informations". information.tv5monde.com (in French). 2 November 2017. Archived from the original on 23 October 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  30. ^ "Former Central African Republic PM leads in presidential vote". Reuters. 2 January 2016. Archived from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  31. ^ "Central African Republic goes back to square one". The New Humanitarian. 13 January 2016. Archived from the original on 24 October 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  32. ^ CAR presidential election: Faustin Touadera declared winner Archived 28 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine BBC News, 20 February 2016
  33. ^ a b "Que sont-ils devenus ? Salou Djibo, Hédi Jilani et Catherine Samba-Panza". JeuneAfrique.com (in French). Retrieved 3 March 2024.
  34. ^ "UA: Samba Panza, chef de la mission au Sénégal". BBC News Afrique (in French). Retrieved 3 March 2024.
  35. ^ "DR Congo: "voting operations had gone relatively well"- observer mission says". Africanews. 22 December 2023. Archived from the original on 20 January 2024. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
  36. ^ "Catherine Samba-Panza". Policy Center for the New South. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
  37. ^ "Central African Republic – Poll Campaigns Begin". Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series. 57 (8). 2020. doi:10.1111/j.1467-825X.2020.09606.x. ISSN 0001-9844. S2CID 241987266. Archived from the original on 23 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  38. ^ "Former Central African Republic interim leader to run in December poll". Reuters. 28 January 2014. Archived from the original on 25 February 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  39. ^ AfricaPresse.Paris (3 March 2024). "Catherine SAMBA PANZA, seule femme candidate à la présidentielle en Centrafrique : « La politique est d'abord une activité altruiste, un sacerdoce. Je veux gouverner pour servir mes concitoyens »". AfricaPresse.Paris (in French). Retrieved 3 March 2024.
  40. ^ "Centrafrique – La décision de la Cour constitutionnelle proclamant les résultats définitifs de l'élection présidentielle de déc 2020". Akandji K. (in French). 19 January 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
  41. ^ "Central African Republic Events of 2021". Human Rights Watch. 22 December 2021. Archived from the original on 13 January 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
  42. ^ "Centrafrique : l'ex-présidente Samba-Panza interdite de quitter le pays". Alwihda Info (in French). 17 January 2021. Archived from the original on 1 April 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
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Political offices
Preceded by President of the Central African Republic
Transitional
2014–2016 		Succeeded by
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