Abdou Diouf
|
|
Abdou_Diouf.jpg
Abdou Diouf (Wolof: Abdu Juuf; born September 7, 1935) was the second President of Senegal, serving from 1981 to 2000.
Diouf was born in Louga, Senegal. He was made prime minister on February 26, 1970 and on January 1, 1981, he became president upon the retirement of Léopold Sédar Senghor. He was confirmed in the office in the elections of February 1983, and in February 1988 he was reelected with 73% of the vote.
Under Diouf, Senegal agreed to form a confederation called Senegambia with neighboring the Gambia on December 12, 1981; this union took place on February 1, 1982. In April 1989, there were border clashes with neighboring Mauritania which led to the severing of diplomatic relations (restored in 1992), and on September 30 of that year Senegambia was dissolved.
Diouf was reelected in February 1993 with 58% of the vote to a 7-year term after constitutional revisions. 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 Wade, but in the second round on March 19 he received only 41.5% against 58.5% for Wade. After this defeat, Diouf handed power to Wade on April 1.
Diouf has also been active in international organizations, both during and after his presidency. He was chairman of the Organization of African Unity twice, from 1985 to 1986 and from 1992 until 1993. Since 2003, he has been the secretary-general of La Francophonie.
| Preceded by: Léopold Sédar Senghor | President of Senegal 1981–2000 | Succeeded by: Abdoulaye Wade |