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André Salifou
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André Salifou (born 1942) is a Nigerien politician, diplomat, and professor. He was President of the High Council of the Republic during the 1991–93 transitional period, Foreign Minister in 1996, and an unsuccessful presidential candidate in 1999.
fou was born in Zinder. From 1972 to 1979, he worked for the Agency of Cultural and Technical Cooperation (Agence de Coopération Culturelle et Technique), UNESCO, and the Common African and Mauritian Organization.
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Encyclopedia
André Salifou (born 1942) is a Nigerien politician, diplomat, and professor. He was President of the High Council of the Republic during the 1991–93 transitional period, Foreign Minister in 1996, and an unsuccessful presidential candidate in 1999.
Biography
Salifou was born in Zinder. From 1972 to 1979, he worked for the Agency of Cultural and Technical Cooperation (Agence de Coopération Culturelle et Technique), UNESCO, and the Common African and Mauritian Organization. He then became a Professor of History at the University of Niamey until 1991. For his doctorate d'état he wrote the thesis Colonisation et sociétés indigènes au Niger de la fin du XIXe siècle à la début de la Seconde Guerre mondiale (Colonization and indigenous societies of Niger from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the Second World War).
Political career
President of the Presidium of the National Conference
At the end of the 1980s the military regieme of Brigadier General Ali Saibou came under increasing domestic pressure and civil resistance. At the end of 1990 the regieme acquiesced to demands for a return to civilan rule and a national conference was convened in July 1991 to prepare the way for the adoption of a new constitution and the holding of free and fair elections. Professor Salifou was chosen as a neutral figure to be President of the Presidium of the National Conference, which was held from July 29, 1991 to November 3, 1991 and established a transitional government leading to democratic elections. At the Conference he was elected President of the High Council of the Republic, which was created to function in a legislative role during the transitional period, which lasted from November 1991 to April 1993. In late February 1992 he was briefly kidnapped, along with the Interior Minister, Mohamed Moussa, by soldiers demanding back pay; he and Moussa were freed after the soldiers were promised that they would receive the pay.
Opposition politician
In the February 1993 parliamentary election, Salifou was a candidate for his party, the Union of Democratic and Progressive Patriots (UPDP-Chamoua), in Zinder constituency, and was elected to the National Assembly. Following the election, the UPDP, which was led by Salifou, formed part of the opposition along with the National Movement for the Development of Society (MNSD). Salifou participated in an opposition protest on April 16, 1994 and was arrested along with 90 others, including MNSD leader Tandja Mamadou.
Under military rule
After Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara seized power in a military coup on [anuary 27, 1996, Salifou was named Minister of State in charge of Higher Education and Research in the new transitional government appointed on February 1. Three months later, on May 5, Salifou was instead named Minister of State in charge of Foreign Relations. He left this position in December 1996, becoming Minister of State in charge of Relations with the Assemblies; he remained in the latter position until December 1997.
Return to democracy
Salifou was the UPDP candidate in the October 1999 presidential election, taking sixth place with 2.08% of the vote. Afterwards he acted in a diplomatic role for international organizations; he was special envoy of La Francophonie to the Comoros, and on April 30, 2002 he was named special envoy of Amara Essy, secretary-general of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), to Madagascar. On February 13, 2003, he was named special representative of Essy, who was by that time the interim Chairman of the Commission of the African Union, to Côte d'Ivoire.
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