Antoinette Batumubwira

Batumubwira was born on 1956, in Ngozi, which was then part of Ruanda-Urundi. She was born into a prominent Tutsi family.^[2] From 1979 to 1981 she completed her undergraduate studies, and afterwards worked as a journalist for the newspaper "La Voix de la Révolution du Burundi" while earning her master's degree in communications.^[2]

After Pierre Buyoya's ascension to President of Burundi in 1996, she left the country to work as head of public relations for ICO Global Communications, describing Buyoya as an autocrat.^[2] She returned back to Burundi briefly, but went to South Africa after the renewal of the Burundian Civil War in 2003.^[2] For the next two years she lived in Helsinki in Finland as a political refugee, where she learned Finnish in Vantaa.^[2] During her stay there, she was contacted by the FDD to join the new government as Minister of Foreign Affairs as they sought well-educated politically active people.^[2] This was the first government after a civil war.^[3]

In late 2007, Batumubwira was named as a candidate to succeed Alpha Oumar Konaré as Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union in the election for that post in early 2008.^[4] The government tried to obtain the support of other African countries for her candidacy, and African Great Lakes nations pledged that they would support her; however, the government later withdrew her candidacy and backed Jean Ping of Gabon.^[5]

• List of the first women holders of political offices in Africa