Félix Houphouët-Boigny 1905-1993 Politician and physician who was president of Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) from independence in 1960 until his death in 1993. Under his rule it became one of the most prosperous nations in sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to entering the political realm in the 1940s, he worked as a rural doctor and planter. In the late 1950s he was a member of France's National Assembly and cabinet and simultaneously president of the territorial assembly and mayor of Abidjan. As president he pursued liberal free-enterprise politics and developed a strong cash-crop economy, cooperating closely with the French. Under his rule Côte d'Ivoire became one of the most prosperous nations in sub-Saharan Africa. His later years were marred by an economic downturn, civil unrest, and criticism of the enormous Roman Catholic basilica that he had built at Yamoussoukro, his birthplace.
In 1989,UNESCO created the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize for the "safeguarding, maintaining and seeking of peace."
In 1989,UNESCO created the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize for the "safeguarding, maintaining and seeking of peace."
Annual greetings to the Diplomatic Corps,
“ We are all bound to the same destiny,
Press conference on dialogue,
“ We have but one object of hatred : war, but one obsession : peace, peace in the hearts, social peace, peace amongst Nations.”
Yamoussoukro,
“ Peace will not exist as long as force will appear to be the only way out of intolerable situations.”
National Day,
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