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Hassan Gouled Aptidon ( so, Xasan Guuleed Abtidoon; ar, حسن جوليد أبتيدون) (October 15, 1916 – November 21, 2006) was the first President of Djibouti from 1977 to 1999.


Biography

He was born in the small village of
Gerisa Gerisa, also called Ghirza, was an ancient city of Roman Libya near the Limes Tripolitanus. It was a small village of 300 inhabitants on the pre-desert zone of Tripolitania. History Even if there was a small local settlement, it was only when R ...
in the Lughaya district in
Somaliland Somaliland,; ar, صوماليلاند ', ' officially the Republic of Somaliland,, ar, جمهورية صوماليلاند, link=no ''Jumhūrīyat Ṣūmālīlānd'' is a ''de facto'' sovereign state in the Horn of Africa, still conside ...
. He was born into the politically powerful Mamassan subclan of the Issa clan. He played an important role in Djibouti's struggle for independence from France. Hassan Gouled began his career in the 1930s as a nurse. He was stationed in Dikhil in 1932. He was then an entrepreneur. In 1946, he founded with
Mahamoud Harbi Farah Mahamoud Harbi Farah ( ar, محمود الحربي, so, Maxamuud Xarbi Faarax) (1921 – 29 September 1960) was a Djiboutian politician of Somali ethnicity. A pan-Somalist, he was the Vice President of the Government Council of French Somal ...
the Somali and Dankali Youth Club. They were elected together in 1951 to the Representative Council of the colony, then separated. Hassan Gouled is elected French senator, against Mahmoud Harbi. He remained so from 1952 to 1957. Hassan Gouled campaigned against
Mahamoud Harbi Farah Mahamoud Harbi Farah ( ar, محمود الحربي, so, Maxamuud Xarbi Faarax) (1921 – 29 September 1960) was a Djiboutian politician of Somali ethnicity. A pan-Somalist, he was the Vice President of the Government Council of French Somal ...
of the ''Union Republicaine'' party, who sought to join the territory with neighboring Somalia. By the time of the 23 November 1958 elections, Mahamoud Harbi's party had disintegrated and with the majority of the Afar vote, his faction won election. Mahamoud Harbi subsequently fled Djibouti, and later died in a plane crash. Hassan Gouled served as Vice-President of the Government Council from 1958 to April 1959. Hassan Gouled also served in the
French National Assembly The National Assembly (french: link=no, italics=set, Assemblée nationale; ) is the lower house of the bicameral French Parliament under the Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are kn ...
1959-1962 and the
French Senate The Senate (french: Sénat, ) is the upper house of the French Parliament, with the lower house being the National Assembly, the two houses constituting the legislature of France. The French Senate is made up of 348 senators (''sénateurs'' a ...
1952–1958. He was defeated in parliamentary elections in 1962 by Moussa Ahmed Idriss of the Party of Popular Movement (PMP). In the 1960s, he led the Democratic Union Issa. It is a signatory to the agreement of Arta in September 1963. He was then education minister in a government led by Ali Aref Bourhan from 1963 to 1967. He was briefly jailed in July 1967, along with other officials of the PMP (which he had joined in 1965). He was elected to the Territorial Assembly in November 1968 and later became Minister of the Interior. Later he served as the first Prime Minister of Djibouti between May 1977 and July 1977.


Towards independence

In 1974, Hassan Gouled called a vote with the support of
François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...
. He became president of the African People's League for Independence (LPAI) created in February 1975 by the merger of the African People's Union (UPA) and the League for the Future and Order. The General Secretary was
Ahmed Dini Ahmed Dini Ahmed (1932 – 12 September 2004) ( aa, Acmad Diini Acmad, ar, أحمد ديني أحمد) was a Djiboutian politician. He was trained as a health technician and entered the political realm at age 26. He served as Vice-president ...
. He became President of the Governing Council on 18 May 1977 and was elected President of the future Republic of Djibouti on 28 May by the Chamber of Deputies. It remained so until 1999. After the attack on the "Zinc Palm" in December 1977, it banned the main opposition party, the MPL, and established a one-party system.


Presidency

In 1981, Hassan Gouled turned the country into a
one party state A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties ...
by declaring that his party, the
People's Rally for Progress The People's Rally for Progress ( ar, التجمع الشعبي من أجل التقدم; french: Rassemblement populaire pour le Progrès, RPP) is a political party in Djibouti. It has dominated politics in the country since 1979, initially under ...
(''Rassemblement populaire pour le progrès'', RPP), was the sole legal one. As the RPP candidate, he was elected without opposition for a six-year term as President on 12 June 1981, receiving 84.58% of the vote. After the start of the Djiboutian Civil War in 1991, he allowed for a constitutional referendum on multiparty politics in September 1992, with four parties being permitted. In the parliamentary elections held in December 1992, only two parties competed, and the RPP won all 65 seats in the National Assembly. Gouled was reelected for a fourth term in May 1993 with 60.7% of the vote. In the 1990s, the Djibouti economy deteriorated dramatically, with net external assets falling by 40 per cent. The
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...
issued "a correspondingly gloomy and highly critical" assessment, mentioning such social problems as the excessive consumption of the addictive and debilitating drug '' qat'' by Djibouti's citizens. During this period, Hassan Gouled's nephew
Ismaïl Omar Guelleh Ismaïl Omar Guelleh ( so, Ismaaciil Cumar Geelle ar, إسماعيل عمر جليه) (born 27 November 1947) is the current President of Djibouti. He has been in office since 1999, making him one of the longest-serving rulers in Africa. He is ...
not only maneuvered to be his successor, but increasingly came to handle affairs for the elderly Hassan Gouled. On 4 February 1999, Gouled Aptidon announced that he would retire at the time of the next election, and an extraordinary congress of the RPP, the party chose Guelleh as its presidential candidate. Guelleh won the
presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The p ...
held in April 1999 and succeeded his uncle on 8 May 1999. Gouled Aptidon died at his home on 21 November 2006, aged 90. Gouled's first wife, former
First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non- monarchical head of state or chief executive. The term is also used to describe a woman seen to be at the ...
Aicha Bogoreh, a proponent of
women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countri ...
and various charities, died in 2001. He married his second wife after Bogoreh's death.


Honours


Foreign honours

* : ** Honorary Recipient of the
Order of the Crown of the Realm The Most Exalted Order of the Crown of the Realm ( ms, Darjah Utama Seri Mahkota Negara) is a Malaysian federal award. It is ranked lower than the Order of the Royal Family of Malaysia. It should not be confused with the Order of Loyalty to th ...
(1998)


References


External links


page on the French National Assembly website


{{DEFAULTSORT:Aptidon, Hassan Gouled 1916 births 2006 deaths People from Awdal Union for the New Republic politicians People's Rally for Progress politicians Presidents of Djibouti Prime Ministers of Djibouti French Senators of the Fourth Republic Senators of French East Africa Deputies of the 1st National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Djiboutian independence activists Socialist rulers Muslim socialists Deaths in Djibouti