Abdou Diouf ( ; Serer: ; born 7 September 1935)Biography at Socialist Party website
. is a Senegalese politician who was the second

president of Senegal The president of Senegal () is the head of state of Senegal. In accordance with the 2001 Senegalese constitutional referendum, constitutional reform of 2001 and since a 2016 Senegalese constitutional referendum, referendum that took place on 20 ...

from 1981 to 2000. Diouf is notable both for coming to power by peaceful succession and leaving willingly after losing the 2000 presidential election to long-time opposition-leader

Abdoulaye Wade Abdoulaye Wade (, ; born 29 May 1926) is a Senegalese politician who served as the third president of Senegal from 2000 to 2012. He is also the Secretary-General of the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS), having led the party since it was founded ...

. He was also the second Secretary-General of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie from January 2003 to December 2014.

Early life

Diouf was born into the

Joof family The Joof family is one of the old Senegambian royal families of Serer people, Serer ethnicity. The surname Joof, also spelt Juuf or ''Juf'' (in Serer language, Serer and Cangin languages, Cangin), ''Joof'' (Gambian English, English spelling in ...

Louga Louga (; Wolof: Luga) is a city in northwestern Senegal. Louga is a cattle market centre, and has road and rail links with the port city of Saint-Louis to the northwest and Dakar to the southwest. The area surrounding Louga is at the northe ...

, Senegal, the child of an Halpulaar mother and a Serer father. He attended primary and secondary school at the Lycée Faidherbe in Saint-Louis. He studied law at Dakar University and then at the Sorbonne in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Diouf graduated in 1959.

Political career

After graduation, Diouf returned to Senegal, where, in September 1960, he was appointed Director of International Technical Cooperation. In November 1960, he became assistant to the Secretary-General of the Government; in June 1961, he became Secretary-General of the Ministry of Defense.Rake, African Leaders: Guiding the New Millinium, p. 193. Scarecrow Press, Inc, 2001. In 1961 he joined the Senegalese Progressive Union (''Union Progressiste Sénégalaise'', UPS), which later became the Socialist Party of Senegal. In December 1961 he became Governor of the

Sine-Saloum Sine-Saloum is a region in Senegal located north of the Gambia and south of the Petite Côte. It encompasses an area of 24,000 square kilometers, about 12% of Senegal, with a population in the 1990s of 1,060,000. The western portion contains the ...

Region, serving in that position until December 1962, when he became Director of the Cabinet of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In May 1963, he became Director of the Cabinet of President Léopold Senghor, where he remained until December 1965. In January 1964, he became Secretary-General of the Presidency until March 1968, when he became Minister of Planning and Industry. He remained in the latter position until February 1970, when he was named Prime Minister.

Presidency

In 1970, Senghor reinstated the post of prime minister, giving it to Diouf, his protégé. Senghor trusted Diouf, who had administrative experience but no independent power base. This was important, for Senghor's last prime minister,

Mamadou Dia Mamadou Dia (18 July 1910 – 25 January 2009) was a Senegalese politician who served as the first Prime Minister of Senegal from 1957 until 1962, when he was forced to resign and was subsequently imprisoned amidst allegations that he was p ...

, was accused of using the position to launch a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

. On 1 January 1981, Senghor resigned in favor of Diouf, who became president of Senegal.

1983 and 1988 elections

Diouf continued the political liberalization Senghor had begun by holding elections in 1983. He allowed fourteen opposition parties to run instead of the four Senghor had allowed. The practical effect was to fragment the opposition, and Diouf won with 83.5 percent of the vote. In 1985, opposing parties tried to form a coalition. It was broken up because the national constitution forbade coalitions. Also in 1985,

, Diouf's main political opponent, was temporarily arrested for unlawful demonstration. In February 1988, elections were held again. Diouf won 72.3 percent of the vote to Wade's 25.8 percent, and opposing parties alleged

electoral fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud, or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share o ...

. Disturbances followed, and Diouf declared a state of emergency, detaining Wade again until May of that year.

Senegambia

Under Diouf, Senegal agreed to form a confederation called

Senegambia The Senegambia (other names: Senegambia region or Senegambian zone,Barry, Boubacar, ''Senegambia and the Atlantic Slave Trade'', (Editors: David Anderson, Carolyn Brown; trans. Ayi Kwei Armah; contributors: David Anderson, American Council of Le ...

with neighboring

Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

on 12 December 1981; this union took place on 1 February 1982. In April 1989, the Mauritania-Senegal Border War developed, leading to an outbreak of ethnic violence and the severing of diplomatic relations with

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

. As the region destabilized, Senegambia was dissolved.

Response to AIDS

In 1986, Diouf began an anti-

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

program in Senegal before the virus was able to take off in earnest. He used the media and schools to promote safe-sex messages and required prostitutes to be registered. He also encouraged civic organizations and both

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

and

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

religious leaders to raise awareness about AIDS. The result was that while AIDS was decimating much of Africa, the infection rate for Senegal stayed below 2 percent.

1993 and 2000 elections

Diouf was reelected in February 1993 with 58% of the voteElections in Senegal
African Elections Database. to a 7-year term; presidential term lengths had been extended by two years in 1991. In the first round of the 2000 elections, on 27 February, he took 41.3% of the vote against 30.1% for the long-time opposition leader

. Still, in the second round on 19 March, he received only 41.5% against 58.5% for Wade. Diouf conceded defeat and left office on 1 April. One of Diouf's greatest contributions to African peace came from this electoral defeat, for he gracefully surrendered power to Abdoulaye Wade, his long-time rival. When Diouf left office, Wade even said he should receive a

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

for leaving without violence.

Socialist Party leadership

Diouf was Deputy Secretary-General of the Socialist Party under Senghor. He became Secretary-General in 1981, and when the party was restructured at its Thirteenth Congress in 1996,Page on the PS at party website
. he was moved to the position of President of the PS, while Ousmane Tanor Dieng became First Secretary, having been proposed by Diouf.

International organizations

Diouf has been active in international organizations both during and after his presidency. He was President of the

Organization of African Unity The Organisation of African Unity (OAU; , OUA) was an African intergovernmental organization established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with 33 signatory governments. Some of the key aims of the OAU were to encourage political and ec ...

(OAU) from 1985 to 1986. Soon after his election, he made a personal plea to

François Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...

, the President of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, resulting in France speaking strongly for sanctions against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. In 1992, he was again reelected President of the OAU for another year-long term. He was also instrumental in establishing the Goree Institute. After leaving office as President of Senegal, he was unanimously elected as Secretary-General of

La Francophonie LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smi ...

at that organization's Ninth Summit on 20 October 2002 in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

,"Abdou Diouf, premier francophone"
Afrik.com, 20 October 2002 . following the withdrawal of the only other candidate, Henri Lopes of the Republic of the Congo. Diouf took office as Secretary-General on 1 January 2003. He was reelected as Secretary-General for another four years at the organization's summit in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

in September 2006. Diouf is an Eminent Member of the Sergio Vieira de Mello Foundation. He is also a member of the Fondation Chirac's honour committee, ever since the foundation was launched in 2008 by former French president Jacques Chirac in order to promote world peace and on the International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats (IMPACT) International Advisory Board. Additionally, he is one of the 25 leading figures on the Information and Democracy Commission launched by

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; ; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organisation, non-governmental organization headquartered in Paris, which focuses on safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its a ...

Honours and decorations

References

External links

, - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Diouf, Abdou 1935 births Cheikh Anta Diop University alumni Living people Presidents of Senegal Recipients of the Grand Star of the Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria Senegalese Muslims Senegalese Sunni Muslims Prime ministers of Senegal Socialist Party of Senegal politicians Secretaries-general of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie People from Louga region 20th-century Senegalese politicians Recipients of orders, decorations, and medals of Senegal 20th-century presidents in Africa Serer politicians