Abdou Diouf

Abdou Diouf, born in 1935, Senegalese political leader and president of Senegal (1981-2000). Born in Louga, Diouf studied at schools in Senegal and France, receiving a degree in law and political science at the University of Paris in 1959 and a diploma at the French Overseas Civil Service School in 1960. He returned to Senegal and served as director of international technical cooperation, deputy secretary general to the government, and secretary general of the defense ministry in his first two years with the civil service. Diouf joined the Union Progressiste Senegalaise (later renamed Parti Socialiste, or Socialist Party) in 1961, and quickly became known as the protégé of President Léopold Senghor. From 1961 to 1970, Diouf received appointments to a number of positions, including minister of planning and industry (1968-1970).

In March 1970 Senghor named Diouf prime minister. Senghor stepped down in January 1981, naming Diouf as his successor. Diouf was subsequently reelected in 1983, 1988, and 1993. Shortly after taking office, Diouf amended the constitution to accelerate the move toward a multiparty state. However, he carefully controlled the ability of opposition parties to form coalitions strong enough to challenge his party. Later, in the wake of post-election demonstrations and student and labor unrest aimed at economic reforms, he allowed rival alliances and appointed members of the opposition to ministerial posts. In 1993 Diouf reached a negotiated settlement and cease-fire with the Mouvement des Forces Démocratiques de la Casamance (MFDC), the armed separatist movement in the isolated southern agricultural region of the country. However, the agreement collapsed, and hostilities between MFDC guerrillas and government forces resumed in April 1995. Diouf’s long rule came to an end in March 2000, when he was defeated by Abdoulaye Wade, leader of the Senegalese Democratic Party, in the country’s presidential election.