Abdou Diouf (born September 7, 1935) was the second
President of
SenegalSenegal , officially the Republic of Senegal, is a country south of the Sénégal River in western Africa. Senegal is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the south, and it also encircles The Gambia on its three sides,...
, serving from 1981 to 2000. Diouf is notable both for coming to power by peaceful succession, and leaving willingly after losing the
2000 presidential electionA presidential election was held in Senegal in 2000, with the first round on 27 February 2000 and the second round on 19 March 2000. The election was won by Abdoulaye Wade, the leader of the opposition Senegalese Democratic Party , against long-time President Abdou Diouf of the Socialist Party...
to
Abdoulaye WadeAbdoulaye Wade is the third and current President of Senegal, in office since 2000. He is also the Secretary-General of the Senegalese Democratic Party and has led the party since it was founded in 1974...
. He has been the Secretary-General of La Francophonie since 2003.
Diouf was born in
LougaLouga is a town in northwestern Senegal. Louga is a cattle market centre and has road and rail links with the port city of Saint-Louis to the northwest and Dakar to the southwest...
, Senegal, the child of an Hal
PulaarPulaar is a dialect of Fulfulde spoken as a first language by Fulbe people and Tukolor, or Toorobe in the Senegal River valley area traditionally known as Futa Tooro, and further south and east...
mother and a
SererThe Cangin languages are the languages spoken by the 200,000 Serer people in West Africa apart from Serer proper . They are spoken in a small area east of Dakar. They are:...
e father.
Abdou Diouf (born September 7, 1935) was the second
President of
SenegalSenegal , officially the Republic of Senegal, is a country south of the Sénégal River in western Africa. Senegal is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the south, and it also encircles The Gambia on its three sides,...
, serving from 1981 to 2000. Diouf is notable both for coming to power by peaceful succession, and leaving willingly after losing the
2000 presidential electionA presidential election was held in Senegal in 2000, with the first round on 27 February 2000 and the second round on 19 March 2000. The election was won by Abdoulaye Wade, the leader of the opposition Senegalese Democratic Party , against long-time President Abdou Diouf of the Socialist Party...
to
Abdoulaye WadeAbdoulaye Wade is the third and current President of Senegal, in office since 2000. He is also the Secretary-General of the Senegalese Democratic Party and has led the party since it was founded in 1974...
. He has been the Secretary-General of La Francophonie since 2003.
Early life
Diouf was born in
LougaLouga is a town in northwestern Senegal. Louga is a cattle market centre and has road and rail links with the port city of Saint-Louis to the northwest and Dakar to the southwest...
, Senegal, the child of an Hal
PulaarPulaar is a dialect of Fulfulde spoken as a first language by Fulbe people and Tukolor, or Toorobe in the Senegal River valley area traditionally known as Futa Tooro, and further south and east...
mother and a
SererThe Cangin languages are the languages spoken by the 200,000 Serer people in West Africa apart from Serer proper . They are spoken in a small area east of Dakar. They are:...
e father. He went to primary and secondary school at the Lycée Faidherbe in
Saint-LouisSaint-Louis, or Ndar as it is called in Wolof, is the capital of Senegal's Saint-Louis Region. Located in the northwest of Senegal, near the mouth of the Senegal River, and 320 km north of Senegal's Capital City Dakar, it has a population officially estimated at 176,000 in 2005. Saint-Louis was the...
, and studied law at
DakarDakar is the capital city of Senegal, located on the Cape Verde Peninsula, on the country's Atlantic coast. It is Senegal's largest city. Its position, on the western edge of Africa , is an advantageous departure point for trans-Atlantic and European trade; this fact aided its growth into a major...
University and then at the
SorbonneThe name Sorbonne is commonly used to refer to the historic University of Paris in Paris, France or one of its successor institutions , but this is a recent usage, and "Sorbonne" has actually been used with different meanings over the centuries...
,
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. Diouf graduated in 1959.
Political career
After graduation, Diouf returned to Senegal, where in September 1960 he was appointed Director of International Technical Cooperation. In November 1960 he became assistant of the Secretary-General of the Government, and in June 1961 he became Secretary-General of the Ministry of Defense. In 1961 he joined the Senegalese Progressive Union (
Union Progressiste Sénégalaise, UPS), which later became the
Socialist Party of SenegalThe Socialist Party of Senegal is a political party in Senegal. It was the ruling party in Senegal from independence in 1960 until 2000. Ousmane Tanor Dieng has been the First Secretary of the party since 1996...
. In December 1961 he became Governor of the
Sine-SaloumThe natural region of Sine-Saloum is located north of The Gambia and south of the Petite Côte. It encompasses an area of 180000 hectares. It is in this region that the Saloum Delta National Park is located....
Region, serving in that position until December 1962, when he became Director of the Cabinet of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In May 1963 he was moved to the position of Director of the Cabinet of President Léopold Senghor, where he remained until December 1965. In January 1964 he became Secretary-General of the Presidency, serving in that post until March 1968, when he became Minister of Planning and Industry. He remained in the latter position until February 1970, when he was named Prime Minister.
Presidency
In 1970 Senghor reinstated the post of prime minister, giving it to Diouf, his protégé. Senghor trusted Diouf, Diouf had administrative experience, and also no independent power base of his own. This was important, for Senghor's last prime minister had used the position to launch a coup d’état. On January 1, 1981, Senghor resigned in favor of Diouf, who became president of Senegal.
1983 and 1988 elections
Diouf continued the political liberalization Senghor had begun by holding elections in 1983. He allowed fourteen opposition parties to run, instead of the four Senghor had allowed. The practical effect of this was to fragment the opposition, and Diouf won with 83.5 percent of the vote.
In 1985, opposing parties tried to form a coalition. It was broken up on the grounds that coalitions were forbidden by the constitution. Also in 1985,
Abdoulaye WadeAbdoulaye Wade is the third and current President of Senegal, in office since 2000. He is also the Secretary-General of the Senegalese Democratic Party and has led the party since it was founded in 1974...
, Diouf's main political opponent, was temporarily arrested for unlawful demonstration.
In February, 1988, elections were held again. Diouf won 72.3 percent of the vote to Wade's 25.8 percent, and opposing parties alleged
electoral fraudElectoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election. Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about a election result, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates or both...
. Disturbances followed, and Diouf declared a state of emergency, detaining Wade again until May of that year.
Senegambia
Under Diouf, Senegal agreed to form a confederation called
SenegambiaThe Senegambia Confederation was a loose confederation between the West African countries of Senegal and its neighbour the Gambia, which is almost completely surrounded by Senegal. The confederation came into existence on 1 February 1982 following an agreement between the two countries signed on 12...
with neighboring Gambia on December 12, 1981; this union took place on February 1, 1982. In April 1989, the
Mauritania-Senegal Border WarThe Mauritania–Senegal Border War was a conflict fought between the West African countries of Mauritania and Senegal during 1989–1991. The conflict began around the two countries' River Senegal border, over grazing rights.-Background:...
developed, leading to an outbreak of ethnic violence and the severing of diplomatic relations with
MauritaniaMauritania , officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the west, by Senegal on the southwest, by Mali on the east and southeast, by Algeria on the northeast, and by the Morocco-controlled Western Sahara on the northwest...
. As the region destabilized, Senegambia was dissolved.
Response to AIDS
In 1986, Diouf began an anti-
AIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus ....
program in Senegal, before the virus was able to take off in earnest. He used the media and schools to promote safe-sex messages, and required prostitutes to be registered. He also encouraged civic organizations and both
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and the Son of God.The term "Christian" is also used adjectivally to...
and
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
religious leaders to raise awareness about AIDS. The result was that while AIDS was decimating much of Africa, the infection rate for Senegal stayed below 2 per cent.
1993 and 2000 elections
Diouf was reelected in February 1993 with 58% of the vote to a 7-year term; presidential term lengths had been extended by two years in 1991. In the first round of the 2000 elections, on February 27, he took 41.3% of the vote against 30.1% for the long-time opposition leader
Abdoulaye WadeAbdoulaye Wade is the third and current President of Senegal, in office since 2000. He is also the Secretary-General of the Senegalese Democratic Party and has led the party since it was founded in 1974...
, but in the second round on March 19 he received only 41.5% against 58.5% for Wade. Diouf conceded defeat and left office on April 1.
From this electoral defeat came one of Diouf's greatest contributions to African peace, for he gracefully surrendered power to Abdoulaye Wade, his long-time rival. When Diouf left office Wade said he should receive a
Nobel Peace PrizeThe Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:...
for leaving without violence.
Socialist Party leadership
Diouf was Deputy Secretary-General of the Socialist Party under Senghor. He became Secretary-General in 1981, and when the party was restructured at its Thirteenth Congress in 1996, he was moved to the position of President of the PS, while
Ousmane Tanor DiengOusmane Tanor Dieng is the First Secretary of the Socialist Party of Senegal. He has been vice-president of the Socialist International since 1996.-Background and early life:...
became First Secretary, having been proposed by Diouf.
International organizations
Both during and after his presidency, Diouf has been active in international organizations. He was elected President of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) for 1985 to 1986. Soon after his election, he made a personal plea to
François MitterrandFrançois Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand served as the President of France from 1981 to 1995, elected as representative of the Socialist Party . First elected during the May 1981 presidential election, he became the first socialist President of the Fifth Republic and the first left-wing head of...
, the President of
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, resulting in France speaking strongly for sanctions against
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
. In 1992, he was re-elected President of the OAU again for another year-long term.
After leaving office as President of Senegal, he was unanimously elected as Secretary-General of
La FrancophonieLa Francophonie, or the Francophonie, is an international organization of polities and governments with French as the mother or customary language, wherein a significant proportion of people are francophones or where there is a notable affiliation with the French language or culture.Formally known...
at that organization's Ninth Summit on October 20, 2002 in
BeirutBeirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon with a population of over 2.1 million as of 2007. Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's coastline with the Mediterranean sea, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan Area, which...
, following the withdrawal of the only other candidate,
Henri LopesHenri Lopès is a Congolese writer, diplomat, and political figure. He was Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo from 1973 to 1975, and he is currently Congo-Brazzaville's Ambassador to France....
of the Republic of the Congo. Diouf took office as Secretary-General on January 1, 2003. He was re-elected as Secretary-General for another four years at the organization's summit in
BucharestBucharest is the capital city, industrial and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmboviţa River....
in September 2006.