FELIX HOUPHOUET-BOIGNY IN HIS WISDOM

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."

“ Dialogue is the arm of the strong , not of the weak, it is the arm of those who treat their general problems before their personal problems, before questions of self-esteem. In searching peace, true peace, just and lasting peace, we must not hesitate for one second to obstinately resort to dialogue.”

Annual greetings to the Diplomatic Corps, 1 January 1970

“ We are all bound to the same destiny, Africa’s destiny and if we can lead the struggle for peace within our country, peace amongst our countries, peace amongst our countries and the rest of the world, we will then have been of service to Africa.”

Press conference on dialogue, Abidjan, 28 April 1971