Chantal Compaoré
| Chantal Compaoré | |
|---|---|
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| Former First Lady of Burkina Faso | |
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In office 15 October 1987 – 30 October 2014 |
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| President | Blaise Compaoré |
| Preceded by | Mariam Sankara |
| Personal details | |
| Spouse(s) | Blaise Compaoré (m. 1985) |
Chantal Compaoré, born Chantal Terrasson de Fougères is the Franco-Ivorian wife of former President Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso. Born in the Ivory Coast, after becoming the First Lady in 1987 she spent much of her time on charity work in Burkina Faso. Her husband, who came to power in a bloody 1987 military coup, was overthrown in the 2014 Burkinabé uprising. Chantal Compaoré was subsequently forced to flee to her home country, going into exile together with her husband.
Chantal Compaoré was born Chantal Terrasson de Fougères, in the Ivory Coast. Her parents were Simone Vicens, who had roots in French Upper Volta (current Burkina Faso) and Dr. Jean Terrasson Kourouma, the extramarital son of the French colonial administrator , who served for many years as Governor of French Sudan. Her family were closely related to that of Félix Houphouët-Boigny, the country's first President from 1960 until his death in 1993, who maintained policies of strong anti-communism and close relations with the former colonial power France, leading Ivory Coast as a single-party state. Some sources have alleged that Chantal was actually the daughter of Houphouët-Boigny, who fathered a child out of wedlock in 1961.
She met Captain Blaise Compaoré, at the time serving as Minister of State for Justice of Burkina Faso, on 15 January 1985, when the young military officer visited the Ivorian capital Abidjan and President Houphouët-Boigny. Compaoré had been a part of the Burkinabé government for one and a half years, since he launched a military coup against Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo in what was then the Republic of Upper Volta on 4 August 1983 together with other members of the "Communist Officer's Group". After the coup he put his close friend Captain Thomas Sankara in the position of President. The two had previously been involved in the 1980 coup against Saye Zerbo.
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