Rouaïd Coessens

Rouaïd Coessens
Coessens at the 2015 Pan-Bahian Congress
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office June 19, 2016
President	Muzukuru Chiyangwa Sylvain Sikali
Preceded by	Liliane Fouché
Member of the National Assembly for TW-Semawuru
Incumbent
Assumed office February 27, 2011
Preceded by	Ludovic Dimont
Additional offices held In office June 1, 1999 – September 19, 2008 Preceded by Amadou Malianga Succeeded by Ludovic Dimont Minister of Domestic Finance In office April 30, 2013 – June 19, 2016 Preceded by Séverin Beauvau Succeeded by Médard Rousselle Minister of Development In office December 8, 2012 – April 8, 2013 Preceded by Tinaye Chimusasa Succeeded by Office merged into the Ministry of Domestic Finance Mayor of Tawira In office September 19, 2008 – January 8, 2011 Preceded by Tongaï Allard Succeeded by Gérôme Lefeuvre
Personal details
Born	(1967-03-11) March 11, 1967 Tawira, East Riziland, UBR
Nationality	Garamburan
Political party	Garamburan National Party (since 1998)
Other political affiliations	Independent (1994–1998)
Spouse	Maria Kumbula (m. 1990)
Children	5
Alma mater	Queen Evelin College, Mambiza St. Christopher University, Stazzona

Rouaïd Coessens (Garamburan Gaullican pronunciation: [kœsɑ̃ns]) is a Garamburan politician currently serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2016, under both Muzukuru Chiyangwa and Sylvain Sikali. He has also served as the National Assembly member for TW-Semawuru as a member of the Garamburan National Party since 2011 and previously from 1999–2008, taking a hiatus to serve as Mayor of Tawira. He is the first Irfanic person to hold the office since its establishment in 1969. He is known for his nationalist foreign policy, neoliberal economics and controversial social views.

Born in Tawira towards the end of Rwizikuru's rule over Garambura to middle-class business-owning parents, Coessens enjoyed a stable upbringing in Tawira. His parents regularly travelled between Tawira and Mambiza and Coessens attended elementary schools in both cities. He graduated high school in Tawira at 16 and joined the Queen Evelin College in Mambiza in 1984, serving an overseas placement year at Saint Christopher University in Stazzona, Etruria in 1987. He graduated with a degree in applied mathematics in 1988. Coessens worked as a banking consultant for eight years before entering politics full time in 1996. He contested the TW-Mangoro by-election in 1998, coming fourth out of seven candidates. The same year, he joined the Garamburan National Party, winning the TW-Semawuru seat in the 1999 election.

Coessens worked his way up the party ladder by toeing the party line with its policies in the early 2000s, voting against the party only once between 1999 and 2008. In 2008, he resigned his position in the National Assembly to serve as Mayor of Tawira, a position he held until 2011. He was re-elected to TW-Semawuru in the February 2011 by-election, and has held the seat since. In 2012, he was promoted to Minister of Development, where he began to impose his own ideology on the PNG. His office was merged into the Ministy of Domestic Finance, an office he was promoted to in 2013. In this office, he began to espouse his controversial social views, which included derogatory remarks about women, Chennois people and an anti-LGBT rhetoric. He was the main backer of the "No" vote in the 2016 LGBT marriage vote in the National Assembly, where he won the vote with a 56% majority. Muzukuru Chiyangwa assigned him to the Foreign Ministry in 2016, and he is now considered one of the most influential members of the party. He has overseen a normalisation in relations with ROSPO states, increasing cooperation with the IFDS and adopting an increasingly anti-eastern stance. Coessens is often referred to as the "arbiter of Garambura's pro-south politics".

Coessens is one of Garambura's most controversial figures. As one of the main politicians responsible for LGBT marriages continuing to be unrecognised legally by the Garamburan government, his critics blame him for holding Garambura back from adopting progressive social views in line with many other developed nations. Coessens' supporters, which include Tawira's large Irfanic demographic, support his anti-eastern and pro-southern politics, as well as some of his social views. As one of the only influential Irfanic politicians in Garambura, he has come to be seen as the de facto voice for the Irfanic right-wing in the country.