Catherine Souga was born on 26 June 1954 in Fort Lamy, French Chad, as the second oldest of her parents' six children.

[2] Her mother, Henriette Waloma (also spelled Warouma[2]), was from Ubangi-Shari—later the Central African Republic (CAR), while her father, Barthélémy Djou, was an accountant from French Cameroon.

[2] Once in Bangui, she worked and studied with her maternal uncle, Simon-Pierre Kibanda, a diplomat who served as secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before being appointed chief of protocol beginning in 1971, and his Israeli wife, Sonia.

[2][7][9][3] Cyriaque Samba-Panza has served as a government minister for several tenures under former Presidents André Kolingba and François Bozizé, beginning with Secretary of State for Planning, Statistics and International Cooperation in 1987.

[6][11] Samba-Panza has also called for economic support for women in Africa, demanding that African governments do more to further women-owned businesses.

[18] As the interim mayor, Samba-Panza was tasked with rebuilding the city after it was devastated by the Central African Republic Civil War.

Her strategy to address the city's funding problem included raising taxes and courting foreign aid.

[23] After beating Désiré Kolingba in a second round ballot 75 to 53, she said:[16] "I call on my children, especially the anti-balaka, to put down their arms and stop all the fighting.

Her appointment as president was seen as a positive change by observers and foreign investors, as she was chosen for popular support rather than taking power by force.

[20] Samba-Panza took office during a period of lawlessness in which religious violence took place between Christian and Muslims and the government's control over the nation had collapsed.

[25] At the time, she was one of three female heads of state in Africa, after Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in Liberia and Joyce Banda in Malawi.

[10] Her status as a female leader in a time of crisis was seen as symbolic among citizens, who felt that a woman and mother may be better equipped to bring peace between warring factions.

[12] Samba-Panza described her intentions during her tenure as being "to bring back peace and stability, to boost the economy and to gradually restore the rule of law".

She weighed this against crimes committed by some French soldiers, saying that they made up a small number and had to be held responsible individually instead of as a group.

[29] Samba-Panza authorized the creation of a Special Criminal Court in June 2015 to prosecute "grave international crimes committed since 2003" in conjunction with the United Nations.

[35] Samba-Panza stayed in Bangui after leaving office,[36] and she remained involved with the government as an advisor in areas such as peace mediation.

[40] She justified her campaign by saying that "many appealed from all sides of the political spectrum" for her to run, and she touted her willingness to step down in 2016 as a reason to trust her.

She was not given an explanation at the time, but the government later stated that there were ongoing investigations into opposition leaders for alleged involvement with armed groups.