Touré, Ahmed Sékou, 1922-1984

Ahmed Sékou Touré (var. Sheku Turay or Ture; N'Ko: ߛߋߞߎ߬ ߕߎ߬ߙߋ; January 9, 1922 – March 26, 1984) was a Guinean political leader and African statesman who became the first president of Guinea, serving from 1958 until his death in 1984. Touré was among the primary Guinean nationalists involved in gaining independence of the country from France.

A devout Muslim from the Mandinka ethnic group, Sékou Touré was the great-grandson of the powerful Mandinka Muslim cleric Samori Ture who established an independent Islamic rule in part of West Africa. In 1960, he declared his Democratic Party of Guinea (Parti démocratique de Guinée, PDG) the only legal party in the state, and ruled from then on as a virtual dictator. He was re-elected unopposed to four seven-year terms in the absence of any legal opposition. Under his rule many people were killed, including at the notorious Camp Boiro. Alpha Turay originated from French Sudan (now Mali). Sékou Touré was born on January 9, 1922, into a Muslim family in Faranah, French Guinea, a colony of France. Touré first became politically active while working for the PTT. In 1945, he founded the Post and Telecommunications Workers' Union (SPTT; the first trade union in French Guinea), and he became the general secretary of the union in 1946.[5] Also the same year, he was a founding member of the African Democratic Rally (French: Rassemblement Démocratique Africain, RDA), an alliance of political parties and affiliates in French West and Equatorial Africa.[6]

By 1948, he was elected general secretary of the Territorial Union of the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT), and two years later, he was named general secretary of the coordinating committee of the (CGT) for French West Africa and French Togoland.

In 1952, he became the leader of the Democratic Party of Guinea (Parti démocratique de Guinée, PDG), the RDA's Guinean section. The RDA agitated for the decolonization of Africa, and included representatives from all the French West African colonies. The party forged alliance with labor unions and Touré was elected as secretary-general.[7] n 1960, Touré declared the PDG to be the only legal party, though the country had effectively been a one-party state since independence. For the next 24 years, Touré effectively held all governing power in the nation. He was elected to a seven-year term as president in 1961; as leader of the PDG he was the only candidate. He was reelected unopposed in 1968, 1974 and 1982. Every five years, a single list of PDG candidates was returned to the National Assembly.

During his presidency, Touré's policies were strongly based on socialism, with the nationalization of foreign companies and centralized economic plans. He won the Lenin Peace Prize as a result in 1961. Touré died of an apparent heart attack on 26 March 1984 while undergoing cardiac treatment at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, for emergency heart surgery;[8] he had been rushed to the United States after being stricken in Saudi Arabia the previous day.