Sy Koumbo Singa Gali

Sy Koumbo Singa Gali (born 8 October 1961) is a Chadian journalist and human rights activist. She joined the Chadian Ministry of Information in 1982 and remained there until 1990. Gali then worked for Jean Alingué Bawoyeu, the Chadian Prime Minister between 1991 and 1993 before becoming a journalist. She established the newspaper L'Observateur in early 1997. Gali has twice served prison sentences for her work. She worked for the United Nations as a volunteer and served as a public information officer for its peace keeping UN Organisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo called MONUSCO in 2007.

Early life and education On 8 October 1961, When she was 18 years old, she became a mother out of wedlock to a man she later married and then divorced; Gali escaped to the south as a result of the Chadian Civil War. In December 1987, Gali graduated from Dakar's l'Ecole de Journalisme and went back to Chad on 8 January 1988. She remained an employee of the Ministry of Information until Habré was deposed as president by Idriss Déby in 1990. Gali worked for Jean Alingué Bawoyeu, the Chadian Prime Minister between 1991 and 1993. She joined the staff of the newspaper Contact before leaving to establish her own newspaper L'Observateur in early 1997. Gali began an online version of the newspaper and its circulation grew from 1,000 to 5,000 by 2001. She was arrested on the orders of the politician Wadel Abdelkader Kamougué for libel in 1998 and served a ten-day prison sentence. It came when a letter criticising Déby who had several members of the Kreda ethnic group arrested had emerged. Gali's imprisonment was heavily protested by Amnesty International and other human rights groups. When she was released, Gali said to journalists: "Is our liberation a sign of a new openness? I don't know. That remains to be seen."