Catherine Samba-Panza sworn in as Interim President of the Central African Republic

Samba-Panza was born on June 26, 1954, in neighboring Chad of a Central African mother and a Cameroonian father. She studied corporate law in the capital Bangui and then in Paris.

When she returned to the Central African Republic, she founded a firm of insurance brokers, but found that doing business and attracting investment were made difficult by the prevailing climate of graft.

People close to her say that she derived a deep-rooted “hostility to corruption” from her experience in the country’s private sector.

She entered politics in 2003 after then president Ange-Felix Patasse was overthrown in a coup led by François Bozizé, who was himself deposed by Djotodia last year.

Source: Associated Press

Pages: 1 2