Sekou Toure
1922 – 1984 Guinean first president of Guinea, trade unionist, pan-Africanist
Guinea's first president, who led the sole colony to vote 'no' to de Gaulle's 1958 Community and won immediate independence, at the cost of a punitive French withdrawal.
- Religion
- Muslim
- Affiliations
- Democratic Party of Guinea, Rassemblement democratique africain
Ahmed Sekou Toure, a trade union leader who claimed descent from the resistance figure Samori Toure, led Guinea to reject de Gaulle's 1958 constitutional referendum with the words that Guinea preferred 'poverty in freedom to riches in slavery.' France responded by pulling out abruptly, taking equipment and cutting aid, and Guinea became independent at once. Toure then built a one-party socialist state that grew increasingly repressive, with the notorious Camp Boiro prison where thousands died or disappeared; he justified this by pointing to real and alleged French-backed plots against him. His rule left a mixed legacy of anticolonial defiance and severe domestic repression.
Connections
- rival of Charles de Gaulle — Led the lone 'no' to de Gaulle's 1958 Community, triggering France's abrupt withdrawal.
- ally of Kwame Nkrumah — Sheltered Nkrumah after his overthrow and named him honorary co-president of Guinea.
- ally of Modibo Keita — Fellow radical West African socialist and pan-Africanist.
In the timeline
- 1958 Independence of Guinea first president at independence
- 1958 Guinea rejects the French Community, 1958 mentioned
- 1958 Guinea votes no to the French Community, France withdraws overnight leader who campaigned for the 'no' vote
- 1958 Guinea's 'No' to France under Sekou Toure the leader who said no to de Gaulle
- 1966 Nkrumah takes refuge in Guinea as honorary co-president host who named the exiled Nkrumah honorary co-president
- 1972 Kwame Nkrumah dies in exile mentioned