Catherine Samba Panza is the first female head of state in the Central African Republic
For the first time a woman, Catherine Samba Panza, is elected head of state in the Central African Republic. The new interim president, former mayor of the capital Bangui, is 59 years old and is known as a determined person and a great connoisseur of complex local policies. A former manager and expert brokerage lawyer, graduated in France where two of her three children live, the new president's primary objective is to restore internal peace.
In this regard, he wasted no time and Catherine Samba Panza immediately appealed both to the former Selekà rebels, as well as to those loyal to former President Bozizé, inviting everyone to immediately lay down their arms.
This is certainly an arduous challenge as the country is literally split in two: on the one hand the rebels who have turned Central Africa upside down for months, on the other the peasant militias, the so-called "anti-balakas", which in the face of continuous abuse, arbitrary arrests and extortion of money, they have decided to arm themselves to put an end to these crimes.