Fatimé Dordji, also known as Fatimé N'Dordji (14 July 1949 – 30 November 2016) was a Chadian businesswoman and journalist. She was the first woman from the country to be employed as a

radio announcer An announcer is a voice artist who relays information to the audience on a broadcast media programme or live event either on radio or television. Television and other media Some announcers work in television production, radio or filmmaking ...

Biography

Dordji was born on 14 July 1949 in

Ati, Chad Ati () is a city in Chad, the capital of the region of Batha. It lies by road east of the capital N'Djamena. The town is served by Ati Airport. Demographics Notable people * Fatimé Dordji Fatimé Dordji, also known as Fatimé N'Dordji ...

. She was brought up in the town of

Sarh Semi-active radar homing (SARH) is a common type of missile guidance system, perhaps the most common type for longer-range air-to-air and surface-to-air missile systems. The name refers to the fact that the missile itself is only a passive dete ...

by her mother, who was an Arab, and her step-father, who worked as a soldier. At the age of fourteen she moved to

N’Djamena N'Djamena ( ) is the capital and largest city of Chad. It is also a special statute region, divided into 10 districts or ''arrondissements'', similar to the city of Paris. Originally called Fort-Lamy, it was founded in 1900 by the French during ...

, where she was employed as a radio announcer, due to her knowledge of both French and Arabic. She was the first woman to be employed in such a role. By 1965, she was a well-known radio personality on Radiodiffusion Tchadienne. The same year she married a policeman, and future politician, named Senoussi Khater, with whom she went on to have seven children. In 1973, Dordji became considered as an enemy of the state, as she had named one of her daughters after the politician

Kalthouma Nguembang Kalthouma Nguembang was a Chadian politician, who was an early member of the Chadian Progressive Party (PPT). She was elected to the National Assembly of Chad in 1968, but was later imprisoned by François Tombalbaye who accused her of plotting a ...

, who President

François Tombalbaye François Tombalbaye ( '; 15 June 1918 – 13 April 1975), also known as N'Garta Tombalbaye, was a Chadian politician who served as the first President of Chad from the country's independence in 1960 until his overthrow in 1975. A dictator ...

had accused of trying to use witchcraft against him. She was imprisoned and then subsequently detained by police for over twenty-one months, although she was never formally charged with criminal activities. In 1975,

Félix Malloum Félix Malloum Ngakoutou Bey-Ndi ( '; 10 September 1932 – 12 June 2009), better known as Félix Malloum, was a Chadian military officer and politician who served as the second President of Chad from 1975 to 1978. A native of southern Chad, ...

overthrew Tombalbaye, and Dordji's husband was appointed Ambassador to Libya in the new government. From 1978 to 1981, the family lived in Belgium. However during this period she and her husband divorced: he returned to Chad as Minister of Education in the new government, she moved to Libya. In the 1990s, under the new government of

Idriss Déby Idriss Déby Itno ( '; 18 June 1952 – 20 April 2021) was a Chadian politician and military officer who was the sixth List of heads of state of Chad, president of Chad from 1991 until his death in 2021 during the 2021 Northern Chad offensive, No ...

, Dordji returned to Chad - working first as a radio presenter, then subsequently as a businesswoman. She died on 30 November 2016.

Biography

References

Further reading