Ahmed Sékou Touré
Encyclopedia
Ahmed Sékou Touré (January 9, 1922 – March 26, 1984) was an African political leader and President of Guinea
from 1958 to his death in 1984. Touré was one of the primary Guinean nationalists involved in the independence of the country from France
.
family in Faranah
, French Guinea
, while a colonial possession
of France
. He was an aristocratic
member of the Mandinka
ethnic group and was the great-grandson of Samory Touré, who had resisted French rule until his capture.
Touré's early life was characterized by challenges of authority, including during his education. Touré was obliged to work to take care of himself. He began working for the Postal Services (PTT
), and quickly became involved in Labor Union activity. During his youth and after becoming president, Touré studied the works of communist philosophers, especially those of Karl Marx
and Vladimir Lenin
.
In 1952, he became the leader of the Guinean Democratic Party which was local section of the RDA
(African Democratic Rally, French: Rassemblement Démocratique Africain) , a party agitating for the decolonization of Africa.
In 1956 he organized the Union Générale des Travailleurs d'Afrique Noire, a common trade union centre for French West Africa. He was a leader of the RDA, working closely with a future rival, Félix Houphouët-Boigny
, who later became the president of the Côte d'Ivoire
. In 1956 he was elected Guinea's deputy to the French national assembly
and mayor of Conakry
, positions he used to launch pointed criticisms of the colonial regime
Touré is remembered as a charismatic figure and while his legacy as president is often disdained in his home country, he remains an icon of liberation in the wider African community. Touré served for some time as a representative of African groups in France
, where he worked to negotiate for the independence of France's African colonies.
In 1958 Touré's RDA section in Guinea pushed for a "No" in the French Union
referendum
sponsored by the French government, and was the only one of France's African colonies to vote for immediate independence rather than continued association with France. Guinea became the only French colony to refuse to become part of the new French Community
. In the event the rest of Francophone Africa gained its independence only two years later in 1960, but the French were extremely vindictive against Guinea: withdrawing abruptly, taking files, destroying infrastructure, and breaking political and economic ties.
During his presidency Touré led a strong policy based on Marxism
, with the nationalization of foreign companies and strong planned economics. He won the Lenin Peace Prize
as a result in 1961. Most of the opposition to his socialist regime was arrested and jailed or exiled. His early actions to reject the French and then to appropriate wealth and farmland from traditional landlords angered many powerful forces, but the increasing failure of his government to provide either economic opportunities or democratic rights angered more. While still revered in much of Africa and in the Pan-African movement, many Guineans, and activists of the Left and Right in Europe, have become critical of Touré's failure to institute meaningful democracy or free media.
Opposition to single party rule grew slowly, and by the late 1960s those who opposed his government faced fear of detention camps and secret police. His detractors often had two choices—say nothing or go abroad. From 1965 to 1975 he ended all his relations with France, the former colonial power. Touré argued that Africa had lost much during colonization, and that Africa ought to retaliate by cutting off ties to former colonial nations. Only in 1978, as Guinea's ties with the Soviet Union
soured, President of France Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
first visited Guinea as a sign of reconciliation.
Throughout his dispute with France, Guinea maintained good relations with several socialist countries. However, Touré's attitude toward France was not generally well received, and some African countries ended diplomatic relations with Guinea over the incident. Despite this, Touré's move won the support of many anti-colonialist and Pan-African groups and leaders.
Touré's primary allies in the region were Presidents Kwame Nkrumah
of Ghana
and Modibo Keita
of Mali. After Nkrumah was overthrown in a 1966 coup, Touré offered him a refuge in Guinea and made him co-president. As a leader of the Pan-Africanist movement, he consistently spoke out against colonial powers, and befriended leaders from the African diaspora
such as Malcolm X
and Stokely Carmichael
, to whom he offered asylum (and who took the two leaders names, as Kwame Ture). He, with Nkrumah, helped in the formation of the All-African Peoples Revolutionary Party
, and aided the PAIGC guerrillas in their fight against Portuguese
colonialism in neighboring Portuguese Guinea
. The Portuguese launched an attack upon Conakry in 1970 in order to rescue Portuguese Prisioners of War (POW), overthrow Touré's regime and destroy PAIGC bases. They succeeded in everything but the overthrow.
Relations with the United States fluctuated during the course of Touré's reign. While Touré was unimpressed with the Eisenhower administration
's approach to Africa, he came to consider President John F. Kennedy
a friend and an ally. He even came to state that Kennedy was his "only true friend in the outside world". He was impressed by Kennedy's interest in African development and commitment to civil rights in the United States. Touré blamed Guinean labor unrest in 1962 on Soviet interference and turned to the United States.
Relations with Washington soured, however, after Kennedy's death. When a Guinean delegation was imprisoned in Ghana
, after the overthrow of Nkrumah, Touré blamed Washington. He feared that the Central Intelligence Agency
was plotting against his own regime.
Over time, Touré's increasing paranoia led him to arrest large numbers of suspected political opponents and imprison them in camps, such as the notorious Camp Boiro National Guard Barracks
. Some 50,000 people are believed to have been killed under the regime of Touré in concentration camps like Camp Boiro. Tens of thousands of Guinean dissidents sought refuge in exile. Once Guinea's rapprochement
with France began in the late 1970s, another section of his support, Marxists, began to oppose his government's increasing move to capitalist
liberalisation. In 1978 he formally renounced Marxism and reestablished trade with the West.
Single-list elections for an expanded National Assembly were held in 1980. Touré was elected unopposed to a fourth seven-year term as president on 9 May 1982. A new constitution was adopted that month, and during the summer Touré visited the United States as part of an economic policy reversal that found Guinea seeking Western investment to develop its huge mineral reserves. Measures announced in 1983 brought further economic liberalization, including the relegation of produce marketing to private traders.
Touré died on 26 March 1984 while undergoing cardiac treatment at the Cleveland Clinic
in Cleveland, Ohio
; he had been rushed to the United States after being stricken in Saudi Arabia the previous day. Prime Minister Louis Lansana Béavogui
then became acting president, pending elections that were to be held within 45 days. On 3 April, however, just as the Political Bureau of the ruling Guinea Democratic Party (PDG) was about to name its choice as Touré's successor, the armed forces seized power, denouncing the last years of Touré's rule as a "bloody and ruthless dictatorship." The constitution was suspended, the National Assembly dissolved, and the PDG abolished. The leader of the coup, Col. Lansana Conté
, assumed the presidency on 5 April, heading the Military Committee for National Recovery (Comité Militaire de Redressement National—CMRN). About 1,000 political prisoners were freed.
In 1985 Conté took advantage of an alleged coup attempt to execute several of Sekou Touré's close associates, including Ismael Touré
, Seydou Keita
, Siaka Touré
, former commander of Camp Boiro, and Moussa Diakité
.
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...
from 1958 to his death in 1984. Touré was one of the primary Guinean nationalists involved in the independence of the country from France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Early life
Sékou Touré was born on January 9, 1922 into a poor MandinkaMandinka people
The Mandinka, Malinke are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa with an estimated population of eleven million ....
family in Faranah
Faranah
Faranah is a town and sub-prefecture in central Guinea, lying by the River Niger.Population 87,083 . The town is mainly inhabited by the Mandinka people.- History :...
, French Guinea
French Guinea
French Guinea was a French colonial possession in West Africa. Its borders, while changed over time, were in 1958 those of the independent nation of Guinea....
, while a colonial possession
French West Africa
French West Africa was a federation of eight French colonial territories in Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan , French Guinea , Côte d'Ivoire , Upper Volta , Dahomey and Niger...
of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. He was an aristocratic
Aristocracy (class)
The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...
member of the Mandinka
Mandinka people
The Mandinka, Malinke are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa with an estimated population of eleven million ....
ethnic group and was the great-grandson of Samory Touré, who had resisted French rule until his capture.
Touré's early life was characterized by challenges of authority, including during his education. Touré was obliged to work to take care of himself. He began working for the Postal Services (PTT
Postes, télégraphes et téléphones (France)
Postes, télégraphes et téléphones was the French public administration of postal services and telecommunications. Formed in 1921, it was split in 1991 into La Poste and France Télécom....
), and quickly became involved in Labor Union activity. During his youth and after becoming president, Touré studied the works of communist philosophers, especially those of Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
and Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
.
Politics
Touré's first work in a political group was in the Postal Workers Union (PTT). In 1945, he was one of the founders of their labour Union, becoming the general secretary of the postal workers' union in 1945.In 1952, he became the leader of the Guinean Democratic Party which was local section of the RDA
African Democratic Rally
The African Democratic Rally was a political party in French West Africa, led by Félix Houphouët-Boigny. Founded in Bamako in 1946, the RDA quickly became one of the most important forces for independence in the region. Initially a Pan-Africanist movement, the RDA ceased to function as a...
(African Democratic Rally, French: Rassemblement Démocratique Africain) , a party agitating for the decolonization of Africa.
In 1956 he organized the Union Générale des Travailleurs d'Afrique Noire, a common trade union centre for French West Africa. He was a leader of the RDA, working closely with a future rival, Félix Houphouët-Boigny
Félix Houphouët-Boigny
Félix Houphouët-Boigny , affectionately called Papa Houphouët or Le Vieux, was the first President of Côte d'Ivoire. Originally a village chief, he worked as a doctor, an administrator of a plantation, and a union leader, before being elected to the French Parliament and serving in a number of...
, who later became the president of the Côte d'Ivoire
Côte d'Ivoire
The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa. It has an area of , and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be...
. In 1956 he was elected Guinea's deputy to the French national assembly
French National Assembly
The French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....
and mayor of Conakry
Conakry
Conakry is the capital and largest city of Guinea. Conakry is a port city on the Atlantic Ocean and serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea with a 2009 population of 1,548,500...
, positions he used to launch pointed criticisms of the colonial regime
Touré is remembered as a charismatic figure and while his legacy as president is often disdained in his home country, he remains an icon of liberation in the wider African community. Touré served for some time as a representative of African groups in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, where he worked to negotiate for the independence of France's African colonies.
In 1958 Touré's RDA section in Guinea pushed for a "No" in the French Union
French Union
The French Union was a political entity created by the French Fourth Republic to replace the old French colonial system, the "French Empire" and to abolish its "indigenous" status.-History:...
referendum
Guinean constitutional referendum, 1958
A constitutional referendum was held in Guinea on 28 September 1958 as part of a wider referendum across all French colonies on whether to adopt the new French Constitution; if accepted, colonies would become part of the new French Community; if rejected, the territory would be granted...
sponsored by the French government, and was the only one of France's African colonies to vote for immediate independence rather than continued association with France. Guinea became the only French colony to refuse to become part of the new French Community
French Community
The French Community was an association of states known in French simply as La Communauté. In 1958 it replaced the French Union, which had itself succeeded the French colonial empire in 1946....
. In the event the rest of Francophone Africa gained its independence only two years later in 1960, but the French were extremely vindictive against Guinea: withdrawing abruptly, taking files, destroying infrastructure, and breaking political and economic ties.
As President of Guinea
In his home country, Touré was a strong president. In 1960, he declared his PDG to be the only legal party, though the country had effectively been a one-party state since independence.During his presidency Touré led a strong policy based on Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
, with the nationalization of foreign companies and strong planned economics. He won the Lenin Peace Prize
Lenin Peace Prize
The International Lenin Peace Prize was the Soviet Union's equivalent to the Nobel Peace Prize, named in honor of Vladimir Lenin. It was awarded by a panel appointed by the Soviet government, to notable individuals whom the panel indicated had "strengthened peace among peoples"...
as a result in 1961. Most of the opposition to his socialist regime was arrested and jailed or exiled. His early actions to reject the French and then to appropriate wealth and farmland from traditional landlords angered many powerful forces, but the increasing failure of his government to provide either economic opportunities or democratic rights angered more. While still revered in much of Africa and in the Pan-African movement, many Guineans, and activists of the Left and Right in Europe, have become critical of Touré's failure to institute meaningful democracy or free media.
Opposition to single party rule grew slowly, and by the late 1960s those who opposed his government faced fear of detention camps and secret police. His detractors often had two choices—say nothing or go abroad. From 1965 to 1975 he ended all his relations with France, the former colonial power. Touré argued that Africa had lost much during colonization, and that Africa ought to retaliate by cutting off ties to former colonial nations. Only in 1978, as Guinea's ties with the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
soured, President of France Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Valéry Marie René Georges Giscard d'Estaing is a French centre-right politician who was President of the French Republic from 1974 until 1981...
first visited Guinea as a sign of reconciliation.
Throughout his dispute with France, Guinea maintained good relations with several socialist countries. However, Touré's attitude toward France was not generally well received, and some African countries ended diplomatic relations with Guinea over the incident. Despite this, Touré's move won the support of many anti-colonialist and Pan-African groups and leaders.
Touré's primary allies in the region were Presidents Kwame Nkrumah
Kwame Nkrumah
Kwame Nkrumah was the leader of Ghana and its predecessor state, the Gold Coast, from 1952 to 1966. Overseeing the nation's independence from British colonial rule in 1957, Nkrumah was the first President of Ghana and the first Prime Minister of Ghana...
of Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
and Modibo Keita
Modibo Keïta
Modibo Keita ; was the first President of Mali and the Prime Minister of the Mali Federation. He espoused a form of African socialism.-Youth:...
of Mali. After Nkrumah was overthrown in a 1966 coup, Touré offered him a refuge in Guinea and made him co-president. As a leader of the Pan-Africanist movement, he consistently spoke out against colonial powers, and befriended leaders from the African diaspora
African diaspora
The African diaspora was the movement of Africans and their descendants to places throughout the world—predominantly to the Americas also to Europe, the Middle East and other places around the globe...
such as Malcolm X
Malcolm X
Malcolm X , born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its...
and Stokely Carmichael
Stokely Carmichael
Kwame Ture , also known as Stokely Carmichael, was a Trinidadian-American black activist active in the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement. He rose to prominence first as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and later as the "Honorary Prime Minister" of the Black Panther Party...
, to whom he offered asylum (and who took the two leaders names, as Kwame Ture). He, with Nkrumah, helped in the formation of the All-African Peoples Revolutionary Party
All-African Peoples Revolutionary Party
The All-African People’s Revolutionary Party is a socialist group founded by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. The Party began in Guinea Conakry in 1968...
, and aided the PAIGC guerrillas in their fight against Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
colonialism in neighboring Portuguese Guinea
Portuguese Guinea
Portuguese Guinea was the name for what is today Guinea-Bissau from 1446 to September 10, 1974.-History:...
. The Portuguese launched an attack upon Conakry in 1970 in order to rescue Portuguese Prisioners of War (POW), overthrow Touré's regime and destroy PAIGC bases. They succeeded in everything but the overthrow.
Relations with the United States fluctuated during the course of Touré's reign. While Touré was unimpressed with the Eisenhower administration
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
's approach to Africa, he came to consider President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
a friend and an ally. He even came to state that Kennedy was his "only true friend in the outside world". He was impressed by Kennedy's interest in African development and commitment to civil rights in the United States. Touré blamed Guinean labor unrest in 1962 on Soviet interference and turned to the United States.
Relations with Washington soured, however, after Kennedy's death. When a Guinean delegation was imprisoned in Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
, after the overthrow of Nkrumah, Touré blamed Washington. He feared that the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
was plotting against his own regime.
Over time, Touré's increasing paranoia led him to arrest large numbers of suspected political opponents and imprison them in camps, such as the notorious Camp Boiro National Guard Barracks
Camp Boiro
Camp Boiro or Camp Mamadou Boiro is a defunct Guinean concentration camp within Conakry city.During the regime of President Ahmed Sékou Touré, thousands of political opponents were imprisoned at the camp....
. Some 50,000 people are believed to have been killed under the regime of Touré in concentration camps like Camp Boiro. Tens of thousands of Guinean dissidents sought refuge in exile. Once Guinea's rapprochement
Rapprochement
In international relations, a rapprochement, which comes from the French word rapprocher , is a re-establishment of cordial relations, as between two countries...
with France began in the late 1970s, another section of his support, Marxists, began to oppose his government's increasing move to capitalist
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
liberalisation. In 1978 he formally renounced Marxism and reestablished trade with the West.
Single-list elections for an expanded National Assembly were held in 1980. Touré was elected unopposed to a fourth seven-year term as president on 9 May 1982. A new constitution was adopted that month, and during the summer Touré visited the United States as part of an economic policy reversal that found Guinea seeking Western investment to develop its huge mineral reserves. Measures announced in 1983 brought further economic liberalization, including the relegation of produce marketing to private traders.
Touré died on 26 March 1984 while undergoing cardiac treatment at the Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland Clinic
The Cleveland Clinic is a multispecialty academic medical center located in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The Cleveland Clinic is currently regarded as one of the top 4 hospitals in the United States as rated by U.S. News & World Report...
in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
; he had been rushed to the United States after being stricken in Saudi Arabia the previous day. Prime Minister Louis Lansana Béavogui
Louis Lansana Beavogui
Louis Lansana Beavogui was a Guinean politician. He was Prime Minister from 1972 to 1984 and was briefly interim President in 1984.-Background and political career:...
then became acting president, pending elections that were to be held within 45 days. On 3 April, however, just as the Political Bureau of the ruling Guinea Democratic Party (PDG) was about to name its choice as Touré's successor, the armed forces seized power, denouncing the last years of Touré's rule as a "bloody and ruthless dictatorship." The constitution was suspended, the National Assembly dissolved, and the PDG abolished. The leader of the coup, Col. Lansana Conté
Lansana Conté
Lansana Conté was the second President of Guinea from 3 April 1984 until his death. He was a Muslim and a member of the Susu ethnic group.-Early life:...
, assumed the presidency on 5 April, heading the Military Committee for National Recovery (Comité Militaire de Redressement National—CMRN). About 1,000 political prisoners were freed.
In 1985 Conté took advantage of an alleged coup attempt to execute several of Sekou Touré's close associates, including Ismael Touré
Ismaël Touré
- Bibliography :...
, Seydou Keita
Seydou Keita
Seydou Keita or Seydou Keïta may refer to:* Seydou Keïta , Malian photographer* Seydou Keita , Malian footballer...
, Siaka Touré
Siaka Touré
Siaka Touré was the commandant of Camp Boiro in Conakry, Guinea during the regime of president Ahmed Sékou Touré. During this period, many of the president's political opponents died in the camp....
, former commander of Camp Boiro, and Moussa Diakité
Moussa Diakité
Moussa Diakité was a Guinean politician during the presidency of Ahmed Sékou Touré.He was a member of the national Politburo.His wife, Tata Keïta, was half sister of the President's wife Andrée, and his son married the eldest daughter of Ismael Touré, the president's brother.In March 1952 Diakité...
.
Works by Touré (partial)
- Ahmed Sékou Touré. 8 novembre 1964 (Conakry) : Parti démocratique de Guinée, (1965)
- Ahmed Sékou Touré. A propos du Sahara Occidental : intervention du président Ahmed Sékou Touré devant 1e 17e sommet de l'OUA, Freetown, 1e 3 juillet 1980. (S.l. : s.n., 1980)
- Ahmed Sékou Touré. Address of President Ahmed Sékou Touré, President of the Republic of Guinee (sic) : suggestions submitted during the West Africa consultative regional meeting held at Conakry, during 19 and 20 November 1971. (Cairo : Permanent Secretariat of the Afro-Asian Peoples' Solidarity Organization, 1971)
- Ahmed Sékou Touré. Afrika and imperialism. Newark, N.J. : Jihad Pub. Co., 1973.
- Ahmed Sékou Touré. (Conférences, discours et rapports .). Conakry : Impr. du Gouvernement, (1958-
- Ahmed Sékou Touré. Congres général de l'U.G.T.A.N. (Union général des travailleurs de l'Afrique noire) : Conakry, 15-18 janvier 1959 : rapport d'orientation et de doctrine. (Paris) : Présence africaine, c1959.
- Ahmed Sékou Touré. Discours de Monsieur Sékou Touré, Président du Conseil de Gouvernement des 28 juillet et 25 aout 1958, de Monsieur Diallo Saifoulaye, Président de L'Assemblée territoriale et du Général de Gaulle, Président du Gouvernement de la Républ (Conakry) : Guinée Française, (1958)
- Ahmed Sékou Touré. Doctrine and methods of the Democratic Party of Guinea (Conakry 1963).
- Ahmed Sékou Touré. Expérience guinéenne et unité africaine. Paris, Présence africainePrésence AfricainePrésence africaine is a panafrican quarterly cultural, political, and literary magazine, published in Paris and founded by Alioune Diop in 1947. In 1949, Présence africaine expanded to include a publishing house and a bookstore on the rue des Écoles in the Latin Quarter of Paris...
(1959) - Ahmed Sékou Touré. Guinée-Festival / commentaire et montage, Wolibo Dukuré dit Grand-pére. Conakry : Commission Culturelle du Comité Central, 1983.
- Ahmed Sékou Touré. Guinée, prélude à l'indépendance (Avant-propos de Jacques Rabemananjara) Paris, Présence africaine (1958)
- Ahmed Sékou Touré. Hommage a la révolution Cubaine ; Message du camarade Ahmed Sekou Toure au peuple Cubain a l'occasion du 20e anniversaire de l'attaque de la Caserne de Moncada (Juillet 1973). Conakry : Bureau de Presse de la Presidence de la Republique, (1975).
- Ahmed Sékou Touré. International policy and diplomatic action of the Democratic Party of Guinea; extracts from the report on doctrine and orientation submitted to the 3d National Conference of the P.D.G. (Cairo, Société Orientale de Publicité-Press, 1962)
- Ahmed Sékou Touré. Opening speech of the Summit of Heads of State and Government by President Ahmed Sékou Touré, chairman of the Summit (November 20, 1980). (S.l. : s.n., 1980)
- Ahmed Sékou Touré. Poemes militants. (Conakry, Guinea) : Parti démocratique de Guinée, 1972
- Ahmed Sékou Touré. Political leader considered as the representative of a culture. (Newark, N. J. : Jihad Productions, 19--)
- Ahmed Sékou Touré. Pour l'amitié algéro-guinéenne. (Conakry, Guinea : Parti démocratique de Guinée, 1972)
- Ahmed Sékou Touré. Rapport de doctrine et de politique générale. Conakry : Imprimerie Nationale, 1959.
- Ahmed Sékou Touré. Strategy and tactics of the revolution. Conakry, Guinea : Press Office, 1978.
- Ahmed Sékou Touré. Unité nationale. Conakry, République de Guinée (B.P. 1005, Conakry, République de Guinée) : Bureau de presse de la Présidence de la République, 1977.
See also
- Politics of GuineaPolitics of GuineaPolitics of Guinea takes place in a framework of a presidential republic, whereby the President of Guinea is both head of state and head of government of Guinea. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Assembly.-History:A...
- Sekou Touré presidential visit to the Republic of the CongoSékou Touré presidential visit to the Republic of the CongoBetween June 5 and 6, 1963, the Guinean president Sékou Touré made an official visit to Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo. He was received by the Congolese president Fulbert Youlou...
News articles
- New West Africa Union Sealed By Heads of Ghana and GuineaBy THOMAS F. BRADY Special to The New York Times. May 2, 1959, Saturday Page 2, 339
- GUINEA SHUNS TIE TO WORLD BLOCS; But New State Gets Most Aid From East—Toure Departs for a Visit to the U. S. By JOHN B. OAKES, The New York Times, October 25, 1959, Sunday Page 16, 576 words
- Red Aid to Guinea Rises By HOMER BIGART Special to The New York Times. March 6, 1960, Sunday Page 4, 608 words
- HENRY TANNER. REGIME IN GUINEA SEIZES 2 UTILITIES; Toure Nationalizes Power and Water Supply Concerns—Pledges Compensation, Special to The New York Times. February 2, 1961, Thursday, Page 3, 336 words
- TOURE SAYS REDS PLOTTED A COUP; Links Communists to Riots by Students Last Month. (UPI), New York Times. December 13, 1961, Wednesday, Page 14, 247 words
- Toure's Country--'Africa Incarnate'; Guinea embodies the emphatic nationalism and revolutionary hopes of ex-colonial Africa, but its energetic President confronts handicaps that are also typically African. Toure's Country--'Africa Incarnate' By David HalberstamDavid HalberstamDavid Halberstam was an American Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author and historian, known for his early work on the Vietnam War, his work on politics, history, the Civil Rights Movement, business, media, American culture, and his later sports journalism.-Early life and education:Halberstam...
July 8, 1962, Sunday The New York Times MagazineThe New York Times MagazineThe New York Times Magazine is a Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of The New York Times. It is host to feature articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors...
, Page 146, 3783 words - GUINEA RELAXES BUSINESS CURBS; Turns to Free Enterprise to Rescue Economy. (Reuters), The New York Times, December 8, 1963, Sunday Page 24, 333 words
- U.S. PEACE CORPS OUSTED BY GUINEA; 72 Members and Dependents to Leave Within a Week By RICHARD EDER Special to The New York Times, November 9, 1966, Wednesday, Page 11, 655 words
- Guinea Is Warming West African Ties, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, January 26, 1968, Friday Page 52, 578 words - ALFRED FRIENDLY Jr. TOURE ADOPTING A MODERATE TONE; But West Africa Is Skeptical of Guinean's Words. New York Times. April 28, 1968, Sunday, Page 13, 525 words
- Ebb of African 'Revolution', The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, December 7, 1968, Saturday Page 46, 305 words - Guinea's President Charges A Plot to Overthrow Him, (Agence France-Presse), The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, January 16, 1969, Thursday Page 10, 139 words - Guinea Reports 2 Members Of Cabinet Seized in Plot, (Reuters), The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, March 22, 1969, Saturday Page 14, 146 words - 12 FOES OF REGIME DOOMED IN GUINEA Special to The New York Times May 16, 1969, Friday Page 2, 213 words
- Guinea Reports Invasion From Sea by Portuguese; Lisbon Denies Charge U.N. Council Calls for End to Attack Guinea Reports an Invasion From Sea by Portuguese By The Associated Press, The New York Times, November 23, 1970, Monday Page 1, 644 words
- Guinea: Attack Strengthens Country's Symbolic Role, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, November 29, 1970, Sunday, Page 194, 717 words - GUINEAN IS ADAMANT ON DEATH SENTENCES, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, January 29, 1971, Friday. Page 3, 145 words - Guinea Wooing the West In Bauxite Development; GUINEA IS SEEKING HELP ON BAUXITE, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, February 15, 1971, Monday Section: BUSINESS AND FINANCE, Page 34, 897 words - Political Ferment Hurts Guinea , The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, January 31, 1972, Monday Section: SURVEY OF AFRICA'S ECONOMY, Page 46, 464 words - GUINEAN, IN TOTAL REVERSAL, ASKS MORE U.S. INVESTMENT By BERNARD WEINRAUB, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, , ; Foreign Desk July 2, 1982, Friday Late City Final Edition, Section A, Page 3, Column 5, 592 words - GUINEA IS SLOWLY BREAKING OUT OF ITS TIGHT COCOON By ALAN COWELL, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, , ; Foreign Desk, December 3, 1982, Friday, Late City Final Edition, Section A, Page 2, Column 3, 1098 words - IN REVOLUTIONARY GUINEA, SOME OF THE FIRE IS GONE By ALAN COWELL, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, , ; Foreign Desk, December 9, 1982, Thursday, Late City Final Edition, Section A, Page 2, Column 3, 1181 words - GUINEA'S PRESIDENT, SEKOU TOURE, DIES IN CLEVELAND CLINIC By CLIFFORD D. MAY, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, , ; Obituary, March 28, 1984, Wednesday, Late City Final Edition, Section A, Page 1, Column 1, 1253 words - THOUSANDS MOURN DEATH OF TOURE By CLIFFORD D. MAY The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, ; Foreign Desk, March 29, 1984, Thursday, Late City Final Edition, Section A, Page 3, Column 1, 591 words - AHMED SEKOU TOURE, A RADICAL HERO By ERIC PACE The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, ; Obituary, March 28, 1984, Wednesday, Late City Final Edition, Section A, Page 6, Column 1, 1249 words - IN POST-COUP GUINEA, A JAIL IS THROWN OPEN. CLIFFORD D. MAY. Special to The New York Times. Foreign Desk, April 12, 1984, Thursday, Late City Final Edition, Section A, Page 1, Column 4, 1336 words.
- TOPICS; HOW TO RUN THINGS, OR RUIN THEM, The New York Times, March 29, 1984.
- Guinea Airport Opens; Capital Appears Calm, The New York Times, April 7, 1984.
- Guinea Frees Toure's Widow, REUTERS, The New York Times, January 3, 1988.
- How France Shaped New Africa, HOWARD W. FRENCH, The New York Times, February 28, 1995.
- Conversations/Kwame Ture; Formerly Stokely Carmichael And Still Ready for the Revolution, KAREN DE WITT, The New York Times, April 14, 1996.
- Stokely Carmichael, Rights Leader Who Coined 'Black Power,' Dies at 57, MICHAEL T. KAUFMAN, The New York Times, November 16, 1998.
- 'Mass graves' found in Guinea. BBC, 22 October 2002.
- Stokely Speaks (Book Review), ROBERT WEISBROTThe New York Times Review of Books, November 23, 2003.
Other secondary works
- Jean-Paul AlataJean-Paul AlataJean-Paul Alata was a Frenchman who was a political prisoner in Camp Boiro, Guinea from January 1971 to July 1975, later writing a book about his experience which was banned by the French government.-Early career:...
. Prison d'Afrique - Jean-Paul Alata. Interview-témoignage de Jean-Paul Alata sur Radio-France Internationale
- Herve Hamon, Patrick Rotman L'affaire Alata
- Ladipo Adamolekun. Sekou Toure's Guinea: An Experiment in Nation Building. Methuen (August 1976). ISBN 0416778402
- Koumandian Kéita. Guinée 61: L'École et la Dictature. Nubia (1984).
- Ibrahima Baba Kaké. Sékou Touré, le héros et le tyran. Jeune AfriqueJeune AfriqueJeune Afrique is a weekly newsmagazine published in Paris, founded in Tunis by Béchir Ben Yahmed on October 17, 1960. It covers the political, economic and cultural spheres of Africa, with an emphasis on Francophone Africa and the Maghreb....
, Paris (1987) - Alpha Abdoulaye Diallo. La vérité du ministre: Dix ans dans les geôles de Sékou Touré. (Questions d'actualité), Calmann-Lévy, Paris (1985). ISBN 978-2702113905
- Kaba Camara 41. Dans la Guinée de Sékou Touré : cela a bien eu lieu.
- Kindo Touré. Unique survivant du Complot Kaman-Fodéba
- Adolf Marx. Maudits soient ceux qui nous oublient.
- Ousmane Ardo Bâ. Camp Boiro. Sinistre geôle de Sékou Touré. HarmattanHarmattanThe Harmattan is a dry and dusty West African trade wind. It blows south from the Sahara into the Gulf of Guinea between the end of November and the middle of March...
, Paris (1986) ISBN 978-2858026494 - Mahmoud Bah. Construire la Guinée après Sékou Touré
- Mgr. Raymond-Marie Tchidimbo. Noviciat d'un évêque : huit ans et huit mois de captivité sous Sékou Touré.
- Amadou Diallo. La mort de Telli Diallo
- Almamy Fodé Sylla. L'Itinéraire sanglant
- Comité Telli Diallo. J'ai vu : on tue des innocents en Guinée-Conakry
- Alsény René Gomez. Parler ou périr
- Sako Kondé. Guinée. Le temps des fripouilles
- André Lewin. Diallo Telli. Le Destin tragique d'un grand Africain.
- Camara Laye. Dramouss
- Dr. Thierno Bah. Mon combat pour la Guinée
- Nadine Bari. Grain de sable
- Nadine Bari. Noces d'absence
- Nadine Bari. Chroniques de Guinée (1994)
- Nadine Bari. Guinée. Les cailloux de la mémoire (2004)
- Maurice Jeanjean. Nadine Bari. Sékou Touré, Un totalitarisme africain
- Collectif Jeune Afrique. Sékou Touré. Ce qu'il fut. Ce qu'il a fait. Ce qu'il faut défaire.
- Claude Abou Diakité. La Guinée enchaînée
- Alpha Condé. Guinée, néo-colonie américaine ou Albanie d'Afrique
- Lansiné Kaba. From colonialism to autocracy. Guinea under Sékou Touré: 1957-1984
- Charles E. Sory. Sékou Touré, l'ange exterminateur
- Charles Diané. Sékou Touré, l'homme et son régime : lettre ouverte au président Mitterrand
- Emile Tompapa. Sékou Touré : quarante ans de dictature
- Alpha Ousmane Barry. Pouvoir du discours et discours du pouvoir : l'art oratoire chez Sékou Touré de 1958 à 1984
External links
- http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19590216,00.html 1959 Time Magazine cover story about Sékou Touré
- WebGuinee - Sekou Toure Publishes full text of books and articles as well photos of Sekou Toure
- Camp Boiro Memorial. Extensive list of reports and articles on the notorious political prison where thousands of victims of the dictatorship of Sekou Toure disappeared between 1960 and 1984.
- More information about Ahmed Sékou Touré (French)
- BBC Radio: President Sekou Toure Defends One-Party Rule (1959).
- Conflict history: Guinea, 11 May 2007. International Crisis GroupInternational Crisis GroupThe International Crisis Group is an international, non-profit, non-governmental organization whose mission is to prevent and resolve deadly conflicts around the world through field-based analyses and high-level advocacy.-History:...
. - 1st page on the French National Assembly website
- 2nd page on the French National Assembly website