Sibeth Ndiaye
Senegal’s Sibeth Ndiaye is new spokeswoman for French Govt
French Government, in new cabinet changes by President Emmanuel Macron, has appointed a Senegalese national, Sibeth Ndiaye, as the French spokeswoman.
Ndiaye, 39-year-old born in Dakar worked as Macron’s media adviser during his presidential campaign.
“France has given me a lot. Today, it’s my turn to give something back,” Ms Ndiaye said at a handover ceremony in Paris on Monday.
She praised her parents and siblings for helping her “break through glass ceilings”.
Ndiaye obtained her French citizenship only three years ago.
She moved to Paris to study at university and became a left-wing student activist before joining the Socialist Party in 2002, news agency AFP reports.
“Her nomination is a strong endorsement of diversity in a high-profile job, a promotion and a sign of the president’s trust,” Philippe Grangeon, one of Macron’s top advisers, told French daily Le Monde.
Ndiaye is seen as one of the key figures who orchestrated the meteoric rise of Mr Macron’s En Marche movement.
Le Monde says that she was ever-present during the Macron campaign and that along with his wife Brigitte Macron, was one of the most prominent women in his camp.
She’s being hailed as the star of a new documentary that’s just aired on French TV, which takes a behind-the-scenes look at Mr Macron’s victory.
Describing herself in her Twitter bio as an “apprentice geek and committed socialist”, Ms Ndiaye grew up in the Senegalese capital Dakar, the youngest of four sisters in a highly political family.
Both her parents were high-profile figures in Senegal, serving in senior positions under former President Abdoulaye Wade