Charles David Ganao (20 July 1926 – 6 July 2012) was a Congolese politician who served as

Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo This is a list of prime ministers of the Republic of the Congo since the formation of the post of prime minister in 1963, to the present day. A total of seventeen people have served as Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo (not counting ...

from 27 August 1996 to 8 September 1997. Ganao was born in

Djambala Djambala is the main town of Djambala District and the Plateaux Region of the Republic of Congo. It lies north of Brazzaville and lies near the Léfini Faunal Reserve. Climate Djambala has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen ''Aw''), bord ...

, in the present-day Plateaux Department of the Republic of Congo. His family were high-ranking members of the

Teke people The Teke people or Bateke, also known as the Tyo or Tio, are a Bantu Central African ethnic group that speak the Teke languages and that mainly inhabit the south, north, and center of the Republic of the Congo, the west of the Democratic Repub ...

. Ganao began his career as a

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

and elementary school principal, before entering

diplomacy Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. 1 ...

. He was appointed as the Republic of Congo's first ambassador to the United States and first

permanent representative A permanent representative is a diplomat who is the head of a country’s diplomatic mission to an international organisation. Organizations that receive permanent representatives from their member states include the United Nations, the World Tr ...

to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

following the country's independence in 1960. Ganao then served as Congo's

foreign minister A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

from 1963 to 1968 and from 1973 to 1975. Ganao next worked at the United Nations, based in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. He participated in the 1991

Sovereign National Conference ''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin , meaning 'above'. The roles of a sovereign vary from monarch, ruler or ...

, which eliminated the

Congolese Party of Labour The Congolese Party of Labour (french: Parti congolais du travail, PCT) is the ruling party of the Republic of the Congo. Founded in 1969 by Marien Ngouabi, it was originally a pro-Soviet, Marxist–Leninist vanguard party which founded the Peop ...

government, replaced the country's

flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...

and

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, and removed the word "''People's''" from the official name of the Republic of Congo. Ganao also founded the Union of Democratic Forces political party. Ganao was appointed as Prime Minister by President

Pascal Lissouba Pascal Lissouba (15 November 1931 – 24 August 2020) was a Congolese politician who was the first democratically elected President of the Republic of the Congo and served from 31 August 1992 until 25 October 1997. He was overthrown by the form ...

in 1996. Lissouba was overthrown in October 1997 during the Republic of the Congo Civil War, shortly as Ganao left office in September. Ganao fled to neighboring

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

, where he was given exile by

Gabonese President The president of Gabon is the head of state of Gabon. A total of three people have served as president (not counting two acting presidents) since the post was formed in 1960. Description of the office Election The president of the republic is ...

Omar Bongo El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba (born Albert-Bernard Bongo; 30 December 1935 – 8 June 2009) was a Gabonese politician who was the second President of Gabon for 42 years, from 1967 until his death in 2009. Omar Bongo was promoted to key positions as ...

. Ganao returned to Congo-Brazzaville in 2005, but stayed out of politics for the rest of his life. He died in Paris on 6 July 2012 at the age of 85.

References

1926 births 2012 deaths Prime Ministers of the Republic of the Congo Foreign Ministers of the Republic of the Congo Ambassadors of the Republic of the Congo to the United States Permanent Representatives of the Republic of the Congo to the United Nations Union of Democratic Forces (Republic of the Congo) politicians People from Plateaux Department (Republic of the Congo) Teke {{RCongo-politician-stub