Marie-Noëlle Koyara

Marie-Noëlle Koyara is a former minister in the Central African Republic government.

She served as Minister of National Defense in 2015 and again from 2017 to 2021. She was also the country's first female Minister of Defense since its declaration of independence in 1960. She previously held several ministerial positions and served as the Central African Republic's representative to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Marie-Noëlle Koyara was educated in Bouar and Bangui. She dropped out of high school to be accepted into the national police force, becoming one of the first women to be accepted. However, that same year, her mother died, and Marie-Noëlle Koyara returned to high school and eventually pursued university studies, earning a degree in agricultural engineering.

She held several positions in agricultural development projects and worked with the African Development Foundation, before being appointed Minister of Rural Development, then Minister for the Advancement of Women and Social Affairs. She held these ministerial positions between 1993 and 1996.

Koyara subsequently became the Central African representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. She lived in Cape Verde, then for seven years in Burkina Faso, and then for another seven and a half years in Côte d'Ivoire. She was subsequently appointed Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in June 2013. She then served as Minister of State for Labor and Public Affairs, becoming the country's first female Minister of State, then Minister of State for Rural Development. In January 2015, she was appointed the country's first female Minister of State for National Defense.

Since January 2024, she is the coordinator of RRAS.