Hadja Andrée Touré was the first to gain the title of

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...

of the

Republic of Guinea Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is t ...

as the wife of

Ahmed Sékou Touré Ahmed Sékou Touré (var. Sheku Turay or Ture; N'Ko: ; January 9, 1922 – March 26, 1984) was a Guinean political leader and African statesman who became the first president of Guinea, serving from 1958 until his death in 1984. Touré was am ...

, the country's first president when it gained independence in October 1958. She retained the title until her husband died in March 1984. She and her son were then arrested and in 1987 she was sentenced to eight years of forced labour. She was able to leave the country but returned in 2000.

Biography

Born in 1931 in Kankan, Andrée Touré is the daughter of the French physician Paul-Marie Duplantier and Kaïssa Kourouma, a Maninka. After her father left the country at the outbreak of the Second World War, Andrée was raised by the family of her uncle,

Mory Sinkoun Kaba Mory Sinkoun Kaba (1933 – 2015), known as Kaba Mory or MS, was a Guinean businessman and philanthropist. Close to president Sékou Touré, he realised numerous state projects on his behalf. Kaba was the eldest son of Abdourahmane Sinko ...

. Shortly after completing her schooling with the primary school certificate, she met her husband to be, Sékou Touré. The couple were married on 18 June 1953 at the Mosque of Kankan, although in accordance with Muslim rites, they did not attend the ceremony. On 12 March 1961, their son Mohamed was born. When Guinea gained independence in October 1958 and Sékou Touré became president, Andrée performed her role as First Lady with exemplary support for her husband. She was always at his side at key meetings with world leaders, including John F. Kennedy, in Washington,

Habib Bourguiba Habib Bourguiba (; ar, الحبيب بورقيبة, al-Ḥabīb Būrqībah; 3 August 19036 April 2000) was a Tunisian lawyer, nationalist leader and statesman who led the country from 1956 to 1957 as the prime minister of the Kingdom of T ...

in Tunis, Mao Zedong in Beijing and Nikita Khrushchev in Moscow. After her husband died following an unsuccessful heart operation on 26 March 1984, Andrée Touré was arrested and her property confiscated. In 1987, she was sentenced to eight years of forced labour but was released in January 1988 and allowed to leave the country. After living in Morocco, the Ivory Coast and Senegal, she returned to Guinea in 2000. She has since constantly spoken of her husband's success in establishing and developing the independent state. Her son Mohamed Touré has been appointed secretary-general of the party founded by his father, the

Democratic Party of Guinea Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toure, Andree First ladies of Guinea Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany People from Kankan Living people Year of birth missing (living people)