Jeanne-Irène Biya (12 October 1935 – 29 July 1992) was the First Lady of Cameroon from 1982 until her death in 1992, as the first wife of President Paul Biya.
Biography
Biya was born Jeanne-Irène Atyam Ndoumin on 12 October 1935 in Endom in the Ava-Ava family.
She married Paul Biya on 2 September 1961, in Antony, Paris. She studied at the Nantes School of Midwives in France and, after her return to Cameroon, worked as a qualified midwife in the Pavillon Baudelocque of the Yaoundé Central Hospital. She was socially committed, particularly to children. It is also speculated that the two nuns of Djoum, who had close relations with Jeanne-Irène Biya, were also assassinated. Paul Biya remarried to Chantal Biya in 1994.
Personal life
It is speculated that Jeanne-Irène Biya adopted the illegitimate son that Paul Biya had with her sister or niece when he was four years old. He was named Franck Emmanuel Olivier Biya, and is considered to be the successor to his authoritarian father.