Augustin Abdoulaye Thiam Houphouët (born 14 August 1952) is an Ivorian politician. Since 2011, he has been the governor of the

Yamoussoukro Autonomous District Yamoussoukro (; , locally ) is the ''de jure'' capital of Ivory Coast and an autonomous district. As of the 2014 census, Yamoussoukro is the fifth most populous city in Ivory Coast with a population of 212,670. Located north-west of Abidjan, ...

. When Thiam was young, his father was government minister and the ambassador to

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

. Thiam is also the grandnephew of

Félix Houphouët-Boigny Félix Houphouët-Boigny (; 18 October 1905 – 7 December 1993), affectionately called Papa Houphouët or Le Vieux ("The Old One"), was the first president of Ivory Coast, serving from 1960 until his death in 1993. A tribal chief, he wo ...

, Ivory Coast's first president. Thiam was trained as a medical doctor at the Université de Cocody and worked in public hospitals until 1989. He moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

where he worked as a journalist. He returned to Ivory Coast in 1993 after the death of Houphouët-Boigny. In 1995, Thiam was appointed as the leader of the government's committee to combat illegal drug use. In 2003, Thiam joined the

Rally of the Republicans The Rally of the Republicans (french: Rassemblement des Républicains; abbreviated RDR) is a liberal party in Ivory Coast (). The party is the country's governing party; the party's leader, Alassane Ouattara, is the current President of Ivory C ...

and began to oppose President

Laurent Gbagbo Koudou Laurent Gbagbo
, FPI website . ( Alassane Ouattara Alassane Dramane Ouattara (; ; born 1 January 1942) is an Ivorian politician who has been President of Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) since 2010. An economist by profession, Ouattara worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF)Yamoussoukro Autonomous District Yamoussoukro (; , locally ) is the ''de jure'' capital of Ivory Coast and an autonomous district. As of the 2014 census, Yamoussoukro is the fifth most populous city in Ivory Coast with a population of 212,670. Located north-west of Abidjan, ...

and was made member of the national cabinet. Thiam was appointed to a second term by Ouattara in 2015.

References

*Pascal Airault
"Côte d’Ivoire : Augustin Thiam, la politique en héritage"
''

Jeune Afrique ''Jeune Afrique'' (English: ''Young Africa'') is a French-language pan-African weekly news magazine, founded in 1960 in Tunis and subsequently published in Paris. It is the most widely read pan-African magazine. It is also a book publisher, unde ...

'', 31 August 2011.
"Dr Augustin Thiam a été reconduit Gouverneur du District Autonome de Yamoussoukro"
abidjan.net, 19 June 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:Thiam, Augustin 1952 births Governors of districts of Ivory Coast Ivorian expatriates in France Ivorian journalists Ivorian physicians Rally of the Republicans politicians Living people People from Yamoussoukro Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny alumni Government ministers of Ivory Coast Place of birth missing (living people)