Marie-Noëlle Koyara

Marie-Noëlle Koyara (born 1955) is a former government minister of the Central African Republic. She served as Minister of National Defense in 2015 and again from 2017 to 2021. She was also the first female defense minister in the country since it declared its independence in 1960.[1] She previously held a number of ministerial posts[2] and served as the representative of the Central African Republic in the Food and Agriculture Organization.[3]

Marie-Noëlle Koyara
Minister of National Defense
In office
17 January 2015 – 10 June 2021
PresidentCatherine Samba-Panza
Faustin-Archange Touadéra
Prime MinisterAndré Nzapayeké
Mahamat Kamoun
Simplice Sarandji
Succeeded byRameaux-Claude Bireau
Personal details
Born (1955-12-14) December 14, 1955
Bouar, Central African Republic
Political partyIndependent
Alma materTechnological University of Mbaïki
OccupationAgronomist

Koyara studied at school at Bouar and Bangui. She dropped out of high school to be accepted to the National Police, where she became one of the first women even accepted. However, in the same year her mother died, and Koyara returned to high school, and eventually pursued university studies, graduating as an agriculture engineer. She held number of positions in the agricultural development projects, as well as worked with the African Development Foundation, before being appointed minister of rural promotion and later minister of women promotion and social affairs.[4] She held these ministerial posts between 1993 and 1996.[5]

Subsequently, Koyara became the Central African representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization. She lived in Cape Verde, then seven years in Burkina Faso, and then seven and half more years in Ivory Coast. In the second cabinet of Nicolas Tiangaye, in June 2013, she was appointed the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, then held the post of Minister of State of Labor and Public Affaires, becoming the first ever female Minister of State in the country, then Minister of State of Rural Development, and in January 2015 she was appointed the first State Minister of National Defense.[4][6]

References
  1. "Centrafrique : Koyara, première femme à la Défense depuis l'indépendance" (in French). Jeune Afrique. 17 January 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  2. "Interview with Marie Noelle Koyara State Minister of Rural Development in the Central African Republic". Food and Agriculture Organization. June 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  3. Poussou, Adrien (7 November 2010). "Marie-Noëlle Koyara: "Notre pays peut nourrir sa population et même la sous région"" (in French). Journal de Bangui. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  4. Nzilo, Alain (2015). "Interview exclusive de Mme Marie Noëlle KOYARA, première femme Ministre de la Défense" (in French). Corbeaunews Centrafrique. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  5. "Marie-Noëlle Koyara : le rôle de la femme au-delà de la crise, le cas de Côte d'Ivoire et de Centrafrique" (in French). Agence d'Information d'Afrique Centrale. 3 March 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  6. "Composition du gouvernement" (in French). France Diplomacie. 28 October 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
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