Safia Otokoré (born Safia Ibrahim; October 17, 1969, in the

French Territory of the Afars and the Issas The French Territory of the Afars and the Issas (FTAI; ) was the name given to present-day Djibouti between 1967 and 1977, while it was still an Overseas territory (France), overseas territory of France. The area was formerly known as French Soma ...

, in present-day

Djibouti Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...

) is a French politician and member of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

Biography

She was born to parents who were

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

s from

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

. She married Didier Otokoré, who at the time of their marriage played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

for

AJ Auxerre Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise (), commonly known as AJ Auxerre or by the abbreviation AJA, is a French professional association football, football club based in the Communes of France, commune of Auxerre in Burgundy. The club plays in L ...

. Otokoré ran

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

Political career

Otokoré served as a regional councilor, vice president of the regional council, and an advisor for international development for Burgundy. She was a supporter of

Pierre Moscovici Pierre Moscovici (, ; born 16 September 1957) is a French politician who served as the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs from 2014 to 2019. He previously served as Minister of Finance from 2012 to ...

and often served as his press officer. In June 2012, she was a member of his ministerial cabinet in charge of communication. She has consistently spoken out for

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

and promoted sports.

Works

* Safia Otokoré and Pauline Guéna, ''Safia: un conte de fées républicain, récit Safia Otokoré'' (Paris: J'AI LU, 2006) —autobiography (in French)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Otokore, Safia 1969 births Living people 21st-century French women politicians Djiboutian women in politics