Rama Yade is a French politician who served in the government of France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 from 2007 to 2010. She was Secretary of State for Sports and married to Joseph Zimet - son of Yiddish singer Ben Zimet, an adviser to Secretary of State Jean-Marie Bockel

Jean-Marie Bockel

Jean-Marie Bockel has been Secretary of State for Defence and Veterans in the government of Prime Minister François Fillon since 18 March 2008, having previously been Secretary of State for Cooperation and La Francophonie since June 2007...

.

Early life

Yade was born in Ouakam

Ouakam

Ouakam is a commune d'arrondissement of the city of Dakar, Senegal. The town is the birthplace of French politicians Ségolène Royal and Rama Yade and Senegalese writer and politician Birago Diop.-History:...

, Senegal

Senegal

Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...

. She comes from a Lebou family. Her mother Aminata Kandji was a professor and her father Djibril Yade, also a professor, was the personal secretary of Senegalese President Léopold Sédar Senghor

Léopold Sédar Senghor

Léopold Sédar Senghor was a Senegalese poet, politician, and cultural theorist who for two decades served as the first president of Senegal . Senghor was the first African elected as a member of the Académie française. Before independence, he founded the political party called the Senegalese...

. Yade was educated in Catholic schools and then at the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris

Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris

The Institut d'études politiques de Paris , simply referred to as Sciences Po , is a public research and higher education institution in Paris, France, specialised in the social sciences. It has the status of grand établissement, which allows its admissions process to be highly selective...

, where she graduated in 2000.

Career

Yade worked at the Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 city hall and the National Assembly before becoming an administrator in the Senate in 2002. She joined the Union for a Popular Movement

Union for a Popular Movement

The Union for a Popular Movement is a centre-right political party in France, and one of the two major contemporary political parties in the country along with the center-left Socialist Party...

 (UMP) political party in 2005 and became National Secretary in charge of Francophonie in 2006. She credits Nicolas Sarkozy

Nicolas Sarkozy

Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....

's charisma with making her want to join the UMP.

In May 2007, she was appointed as Secretary of State for Human Rights under the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs

Minister of Foreign Affairs (France)

Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs ), is France's foreign affairs ministry, with the headquarters located on the Quai d'Orsay in Paris close to the National Assembly of France. The Minister of Foreign and European Affairs in the government of France is the cabinet minister responsible for...

, Bernard Kouchner

Bernard Kouchner

Bernard Kouchner is a French politician, diplomat, and doctor. He is co-founder of Médecins Sans Frontières and Médecins du Monde...

.

In November 2008, Yade was rumoured to be Nicolas Sarkozy's favorite choice for replacing Jean-Pierre Jouyet

Jean-Pierre Jouyet

-Biography:Jean-Pierre Jouyet, was born on 13 February 1954 at Montreuil-sous-Bois in the suburbs of Paris, and is a top civil servant who has also held political positions....

 as Secretary of State for European Affairs, and was also privately asked to lead one of the UMP lists for the 2009 European Parliament elections

European Parliament election, 2009 (France)

European elections to elect 72 French Members of the European Parliament were held on Sunday 7 June 2009.Due to the entry of Romania and Bulgaria in the European Union in 2007, the number of seats allocated to France was revised from 78 seats to 72 seats, a loss of 6 seats...

. However, on 7 December, she declined to run for a seat in the European Parliament and declared herself "more interested in national mandate". On 9 December, Le Monde reported that Nicolas Sarkozy was "deeply disappointed" by her attitude and that she had "ruined all her chances" to succeed Jouyet. The following day, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner

Bernard Kouchner

Bernard Kouchner is a French politician, diplomat, and doctor. He is co-founder of Médecins Sans Frontières and Médecins du Monde...

, in an interview with Le Parisien

Le Parisien

Le Parisien is a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, and local news of Paris and its suburbs. It was established as Le Parisien libéré by Émilien Amaury in 1944, and the name was changed to the current one in 1986...

, said he regretted his suggestion to appoint a Secretary of State for Human Rights, although he noted that Yade had "done, with talent, what she could do". She currently has the highest approval rating in the French government, with over 70%.

Yade was moved to the post of Secretary of State for Sports on 24 June 2009. This was interpreted as a demotion in connection with Sarkozy's disapproval of her decision to not stand in the European elections.

External links

• Biography of Rama Yade on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ website