Rosine Soglo

Rosine Honorine Vieyra Soglo (born Rose-Marie Honorine Vieyra; 7 March 1934 – 25 July 2021) was a Beninese politician. Soglo served as First Lady of Benin from 1991 to 1996 during the presidency of her husband, Nicéphore Soglo. She is considered the first First Lady of the democratic era following Benin's transition to a multi-party democracy. In 1992, Soglo founded the Benin Rebirth Party (RB), becoming the first Beninese woman to establish a new political party. She served as a member of the National Assembly of Benin, representing the 16th Constituency of Cotonou, for six consecutive terms from 1999 until her retirement in February 2019. She also served as a member of the Pan-African Parliament from 2004 to 2009. Soglo was affectionately nicknamed "Maman" by Beninese colleagues and politicians. Early life Soglo, whose real name was Rose-Marie Honorine Vieyra, was born on 7 March 1934 in Ouidah, French Dahomey, into a wealthy family from the city's Afro-Brazilian community. Her father was a railway executive and landowner who was able to send his four children – Rosine and her three brothers – to France for their education. In 1946, she moved to France to attend secondary school at Lycée de Jeunes Filles de Caen. She then studied law in college. After graduation, Soglo went into law, working as a bailiff from 1965 to 1968 and before becoming a lawyer. Vieyra Soglo was multilingual and spoke fluent English, Fon, French, and Mina (also known as the Gen language). Vieyra met Nicéphore Soglo in France in 1947, while both were students and teenagers aged 16 and 14 respectively. The couple married on 2 July 1958, and had two sons. Their eldest son, Léhady Soglo (born 1960), was a former national deputy and Mayor of Cotonou from 14 August 2015, until his dismissal on 2 August 2017 for alleged corruption. He went into exile in France in 2017 and was sentenced in absentia to ten years in prison by the Criet court. Their second son, Ganiou Soglo (born 1961), a former government minister and presidential candidate, was shot and wounded in an ambush on 5 February 2021.