Viviane Wade (née Vert; born 13 September 1932) is a French-born Senegalese public figure who served as
First Lady of Senegal from 2000 to 2012, as the wife of President
Abdoulaye Wade
Abdoulaye Wade (, ; born 29 May 1926) is a Senegalese politician who served as the third president of Senegal from 2000 to 2012. He is also the Secretary-General of the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS), having led the party since it was founded ...
.
Early life
Born in
Besançon
Besançon (, ; , ; archaic ; ) is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerland.
Capi ...
,
Doubs
Doubs (, ; ; ) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Eastern France. Named after the river Doubs, it had a population of 543,974 in 2019.[Abdoulaye Wade
Abdoulaye Wade (, ; born 29 May 1926) is a Senegalese politician who served as the third president of Senegal from 2000 to 2012. He is also the Secretary-General of the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS), having led the party since it was founded ...]
while they attended the
University of Franche-Comté
The Marie and Louis Pasteur University (UMLP), formerly known as University of Franche-Comté, is a pluridisciplinary public French university located in Besançon, Franche-Comté, with decentralized campuses in Belfort, Montbéliard, Vesoul and ...
in Besançon; they were married in 1963.
Political life
Abdoulaye Wade later became active as leader of the
Senegalese Democratic Party in opposition. Following the 1993 presidential election, in which Wade was defeated, there was some political unrest in the country and the vice president of the Constitutional Court,
Babacar Seye, was assassinated. Both Abdoulaye and Viviane were arrested and imprisoned under suspicion of involvement. Those charges were later dropped, and three other people were sentenced for the murder. Following her husband's election as
President of Senegal
The president of Senegal () is the head of state of Senegal. In accordance with the 2001 Senegalese constitutional referendum, constitutional reform of 2001 and since a 2016 Senegalese constitutional referendum, referendum that took place on 20 ...
in 2000, Viviane became First Lady.
After the end of her husband's Presidency, she closed down the Acting for Education and Health foundation and made the staff redundant. The couple relocated from Senegal to Paris.
Following the imprisonment of her son,
Karim
Kareem (alternatively spelled Karim, Kerim or Karem) () is a given name and surname of Arabic origin that means "generous", "noble", "honourable". It is also one of the Names of God.
Given name Karim
* Karim Abdel Aziz (born 1975), Egyptian ac ...
, on corruption charges, she supported his claims of innocence and suggested that the charges were politically motivated.
[ Wade had been with the former President in ]Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...
when the charges were announced. Prior to the trial, she made weekly trips from Paris to Dakar to visit her son; she had been staying in France to look after his three daughters due to the death of their mother.
References
External links
Official biography of Senegal First Lady Viviane Wade
(French)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wade, Viviane
1932 births
Living people
People from Besançon
French emigrants to Senegal
Senegalese people of French descent
First ladies of Senegal
University of Franche-Comté alumni