Chantal Biya

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Chantal Biya and Laura Bush after a coffee at the White House, 21 March 2003

Chantal Biya is the First Lady of Cameroon. She married President Paul Biya on 23 April 1994, after his first wife, Jeanne-Irène Biya, died in 1992. Chantal Biya has established several charitable organisations. Among them are African Synergy, which pursues various HIV/AIDS initiatives, and the Chantal Biya Foundation (French Fondation Chantal Biya). She hosted the original First Ladies Summit in Yaoundé during the 1996 Organisation of African Unity summit.^[1] Her Jeunesse Active pour Chantal Biya is an organ of her husband's Cameroon People's Democratic Movement.^[2]

Among Cameroonian women, Biya is famous for her hairstyles. Her signature style is called the banane, and is used for formal occasions.^[3] Biya has popularised other styles; collectively, the are known as the Chantal Biya.^[4]

[edit] Notes

^ Ibrahim 17.
^ Ngwane 17.
^ Nyamnjoh et al 113.
^ Nyamnjoh et al 117.

[edit] References

Dorall, Charyl, ed. (2004). Commonwealth Ministers Reference Book 2003. Commonwealth Secretariat.
Ibrahim, Jibrin (October 2003). "Democratic Transition in Anglophone West Africa". Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa.
Ngwane, Mwalimu George (no date). "Cameroon's Democratic Process: Vision 2020". gngwane.com.
Nyamnjoh, Francis B., Durham, Deborah, and Fokwang, Jude D (December 2002). "The Domestication of Hair and Modernised Consciousness in Cameroon: A Critique in the Context of Globalisation". Identity Culture and Politics, Vol. 3., Number 2, pp. 98–124.
"Paul Biya's Biography". Republic of Cameroon 2004 Presidential Elections website. Accessed 27 October 2006.