In March 2003, First Lady Angèle Patassé accompanied her husband and a Central African government delegation to a regional summit in Niamey, Niger.
[4] While no one onboard the presidential plane was aware of the ongoing coup at the time, the first lady's lengthy shopping trip "setback probably saved the couple's life," wrote journalist François Soudan in Jeune Afrique.
[4] Bozizé and his rebels were seizing Bangui M'Poko International Airport just as Patassé's aircraft was on approach, forcing his plane to divert Yaoundé, Cameroon.
[4] While staying at the Yaoundé Hilton Hotel, Angèle and Ange-Félix Patassé learned that their two young children, Salomon and Providence, had been taken to the French embassy in Bangui.
[1][4] Angèle Patassé died of a long illness, which reportedly included multiple organ failure, at a private clinic in Lomé, Togo, on December 3, 2007, at the age of 52.