Naïma Ben Ali (Arabic: نعيمة بن علي), is the former First Lady of Tunisia and the first wife of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. She served as First Lady from 1987 until her divorce from Ben Ali in 1988.

Biography

Born Naïma Kefi, she is the daughter of Mohamad Kefi, a prominent Tunisian army general who held a high official position in the post-independence government.^[1] She met a young member of the Tunisian Army, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, during the late 1950s or 1960s, though the circumstances of their meeting remain subject to some debate.^[2] The couple married in 1964.^[2] Ben Ali's marriage to Naïma, the daughter of a high ranking general, immediately helped his career and eventually helped propel him to the presidency two decades later.^[2] Ben Ali, who was only a non-commissioned officer at the time, was appointed Director of Military Intelligence in 1964, shortly after his wedding.^[2]

Naïma Ben Ali and Ben Ali had three daughters, all of whom married prominent Tunisian businessmen:^[2] Ghazoua Ben Ali, born March 8, 1963, in Le Bardo prior to their marriage, and married Slim Zarrouk. Dorsaf Ben Ali, born July 5, 1965, who is the wife of Slim Chiboub. Their youngest daughter, Cyrine Ben Ali, was born August 21, 1971.^[3]

By the mid-1980s, Ben Ali, the then Director General of National Security, was having an affair with his mistress, Leïla Trabelssi, whom he had met in 1984, marking the beginning of the end of his marriage to Naïma Ben Ali.^[4] Ben Ali and Trabelssi had a daughter out of wedlock in January 1987.^[4]

Naïma Ben Ali became First Lady of Tunisia in 1987 when Zine El Abidine Ben Ali became president. However, President Ben Ali divorced Naïma in 1988, after 24 years of marriage, in favor of his mistress, Leïla Trabelssi, who moved into the presidential palace shortly after the separation was announced.^[4]

Naïma Ben Ali remained in Tunis following the Tunisian Revolution, which ousted her ex-husband from power.^[4]

References