Antoinette Sassou Nguesso

Sassou Nguesso was born Antoinette Loemba Tchibota on May 7, 1945, in Brazzaville to Pascal Loemba Tchibota and Marie-Louise Djembo. Her parents, who were originally from Kakamoéka, divorced when she was a child.[1] Her mother later remarried to her second husband, François Gallo Poto, a cousin of the Antoinette Gbetigbia Gogbe Yetene (d. 1977), first wife of Mobutu Sese Seko, the President of Zaire.[1] Sassou Nguesso's mother, who became known as Mama Poto Galo, died in January 2005 and was buried in Gombe Cemetery in Kinshasa in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.[1][2] Following her parent's divorce, Sassou Nguesso was raised in both Pointe-Noire and Brazzaville. She attended elementary school in both cities, before enrolling in a girl's college in Mouyondzi.

Sassou Nguesso is a retired teacher.[3] Sassou Nguesso has been president of a Congolese NGO, the Congo Assistance Foundation (la Fondation Congo Assistance), since its establishment on May 7, 1984.[4]

The first lady routinely travels with her personal hairdresser, the Brazzaville-based stylist Amédée Ebono, on all official trips.[5]

In June 2016, Sassou Nguesso was subpoenaed to appear in an American court while traveling in Washington D.C.[6][7] The case stems from an ongoing 1980 debt dispute between the American company Commisimpex and the Congolese government under President Denis Sassou Nguesso.[7] The company maintains that it was never compensated for its work by the Sassou Nguesso government.[7] First Lady Sassou Nguesso was summoned to the U.S. court to answer questions regarding her family's assets, as well as government finances.[7] Antoinette Sassou Nguesso ignored the subpoena and did not appear in court.[7]

Sassou Nguesso's family remains the subject of several legal and financial investigations in the U.S. and France.[3] The French Ministry of Justice seized a real estate complex located in the 17th arrondissement of Paris which had been purchased in Antoinette Sassou Nguesso's name.[3]