DELEGATES
African Statesmen | Club of Madrid Delegation
African StatesmenH.E. JOAQUIM ALBERTO CHISSANO
former President of Mozambique (1986-2004), Member, Club of Madrid
Joaquim Alberto Chissano became President of the Republic of Mozambique in 1986. As Head of State, he undertook important socioeconomic reforms, opening the country to a multiparty system and introducing free market reforms. He also signed the 1992 peace treaty that ended 16 years of civil war with the Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO). In 1994 he won the country's first multiparty elections, and he was reelected in 1999. Chissano chose not to run for another term in the 2004 elections. During his presidency, Chissano held several important international positions, including the presidency of the African Union.
H.E. YAKUBU GOWON
Former President of Nigeria (1966-1975)
Yakubu Gowon became head of the Nigerian Federal Military Government and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces in 1966. Since his departure from office in 1975, Gowon has earned a Doctorate degree in Political Science from the London School of Law and Economics and received numerous honorary degrees and awards. He is currently Associate Research Professor at the Centre for Development Studies in Nigeria, and serves as Chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF). Gowon also launched the Gowon Center and has become a prominent activist in the campaign to eradicate guinea worm on the continent.
H.E. DAWDA KAIRABA JAWARA
Former President of The Gambia (1970-1994)
Dawda Kairaba Jawara became the first President of The Gambia after a 1970 referendum abolished the monarchy and transformed the country into a republic. Founder of the People's Progressive Party, Jawara was reelected several times until he was deposed in a 1994 coup. He lived in exile until 2002, when the government lifted the ban imposed on him and his political party. Prior to his presidency, Jawara was Prime Minister in 1965 when The Gambia became independent and was Minister of Education before independence.
H.E. KETUMILE MASIRE
Former President of Botswana (1980-1998), Member, Club of Madrid
Ketumile Masire, a former teacher and parliamentarian, became the second President of Botswana in 1980. He won reelection in 1984, and served until his retirement from public service in 1998. Masire maintains a keen interest in humanitarian issues. From 1998 to 2000, he chaired the Eminent Personalities of the OAU Investigating the Circumstances Surrounding the 1994 Rwanda Genocide and from 2000 to 2003 was facilitator for the Inter-Congolese National Dialogue. He recently became the Lloyd G. Balfour African President-in-Residence at the African Presidential Archives and Research Center (APARC) of Boston University. Masire holds several Honorary Doctorates and the Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger, the Honorary Knighthood of the Grand Cross of Saint Michael and Saint George (UK) and the Namibia Order of the Welwitschia. He has also participated in international elections observation missions, including missions in Ethiopia.
H. E. ANTONIO MANUEL MASCARENHAS MONTEIRO
Former President of the Republic of Cape Verde (1991-2001), Member, Club of Madrid
Antonio Manuel Mascarenhas Monteiro, a political leader and former President of the Supreme Court, was elected President of the Republic of Cape Verde in 1991 and reelected in 1996. During his term in office, Monteiro chaired the Third Conference on a Regional System of Human Rights Protection in Africa and Europe; he also was elected President of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) in 1998. Since leaving office, Monteiro has participated as Chairman of the Contact Group of the OAU sent to Madagascar in March 2002 to mediate the conflict that broke out following the Presidential elections of 2001. He participated in the January 2003 NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa's Development) and Security Forum organized by the Global Coalition for Africa in Accra, Ghana.
H.E. ALI HASSAN MWINYI
Former President of Tanzania (1984-1995)
Ali Hassan Mwinyi became President of Tanzania in 1984 after serving as interim President of Zanzibar. He oversaw Tanzania's transition toward multiparty politics, and stepped down at the end of his second presidential term in 1995 in observation of the term limit stipulated in the 1992 Constitution. In 2000, he was appointed by President Benjamin Mkapa to head the national effort in the fight against HIV/AIDS. As one of the nation's most distinguished elder statesmen, President Mwinyi continues to play a vital role in the civic life of Tanzania.
H.E. SAM NUJOMA
Former President of Namibia (1990-2005)
Sam Nujoma was elected Namibia's first President in 1990 and was reelected twice, serving until 2005 when he retired from active politics. He plans to resume graduate studies in Geology at the University of Namibia. Prior to his presidency, Nujoma led the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) in opposing South African rule and its extension of apartheid to Namibia. After leaving office, President Nujoma founded the Sam Nujoma Foundation, a charitable trust providing financial assistance to Namibian students studying Science and Technology and care for orphaned and HIV-infected children.
H.E. MAHAMANE OUSMANE
Former President of Niger (1993-1996)
Mahamane Ousmane served as the first democratically elected President of Niger from1993 until 1996, when he was deposed in a military coup. During his presidency, Ousmane negotiated peace with Tuareg rebels following six years of armed conflict. After leaving the presidency, Ousmane was elected Member of Parliament and Speaker of the National Assembly. He is currently President of the International Association of French Speaking Parliamentarians. He has also co-led international election monitoring missions, including missions in Nigeria.
H.E. ARISTIDES MARIA PEREIRA
Former President of the Cape Verde (1975-1991)
Aristides Maria Pereira served as the first President of Cape Verde, after having led the country to independence in 1975. While in office, Pereira led the movement to establish multiparty politics in Cape Verde, and in 1991, he peacefully conceded defeat to his challenger Antonio Mascarenhas Monteiro. As co-founder of the Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde (PAIGC), President Pereira was at the forefront of anti-colonial movements on the continent, in his country, as well as in Guinea-Bissau and Namibia.
H.E. MANUEL PINTO DA COSTA
Former President of Sao Tome and Principe (1975-1990)
Manuel Pinto da Costa became the first President of independent Sao Tome and Principe in 1975, the same year the nation gained independence, and held this post until 1990, when he stepped down. In 1989, he led his country in a transition to a multiparty democracy. His efforts resulted in the country's adoption of a new constitution establishing a multiparty political system and two five-year terms for the presidency, guaranteeing human rights protections. Since leaving office, Pinto da Costa has participated in international election missions, including missions in Burundi.
H.E. JERRY JOHN RAWLINGS
Former President of Ghana (1979 and 1981-1992)
Jerry John Rawlings first came to power in 1979 as Chairman of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council. He handed over power to a civilian administration four months later when the Council organized elections. In 1981, Rawlings returned to office, and he restored multiparty politics in Ghana in 1992. He won the 1992 and 1996 Presidential elections as the National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate. Rawlings was awarded the 1993 World Hunger Prize and was named a United Nations Eminent Person for the International Year of Volunteers in 2001. After leaving office, Rawlings was appointed United Nations Special Representative on sexually transmitted diseases, and he has led the way for effective mobilization of resources and field medical treatment for buruli ulcer, guinea worm and malaria patients.
H.E MALAM BACAI SANHA
Former President of Guinea-Bissau (1999-2000)
Malam Bacai Sanhá served as President of Guinea-Bissau during an interim period from May 1999 to January 2000, having served as Speaker of the National Assembly prior to that time. During his more than 30 years in public office, Sanhá also served as a regional governor and held several cabinet ministries.
H.E. AMOS SAWYER
Former President of Liberia (1990-1994)
Amos Sawyer became President of Liberia's Interim Government of National Unity in 1990 as the country went through a tumultuous period of civil war. A seven-nation mediation committee convened by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at the time to negotiate a cease-fire selected Sawyer for this post. Since retiring from Liberian politics, Sawyer returned to academia and is currently Research Scholar and Associate Director at Indiana University's (USA) Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis.
H.E. NICÉPHORE D. SOGLO
Former President of Benin (1991-1996)
Nicéphore D. Soglo, an economist and former World Bank official, was elected President of Benin in 1991 and held this post until 1996. Since leaving office, Soglo has used his World Bank experience to contribute to economic policy studies in sub-Saharan Africa. He also was a Presidential Fellow in Residence at Harvard University and has co-led several international election monitoring delegations. He has been mayor of Cotonou since 2003.
H.E. MIGUEL TROVOADA
Former President of Sao Tome and Principe (1991-2001)
Miguel Trovoada was elected President of Sao Tome and Principe in 1991, in the country's first multiparty elections. He was reelected for a second term in 1996 and stepped down from power in 2001 as required by the constitution. During his presidency, Trovoada built strong relationships with the international donor community and successfully implemented several economic reforms. In recent years, Trovoada has been involved in conflict resolution missions in West and Central Africa.
H.E. PRESIDENT ALBERT ZAFY
Former President of Madagascar (1993-1996)
Albert Zafy was elected President of Madagascar in 1993 in an election that marked Madagascar's return to civilian rule after decades of military rule. Prior to his presidency, Zafy was nominated leader in 1991 of a transitional body responsible for drafting the constitution that restored a multiparty system in Madagascar. Under his leadership, the coalition of opposition parties "Living Forces" successfully led the movement towards democracy in the country. He has remained in the medical profession since leaving office.
H.E. AL SADIG AL-MAHDI
Former Prime Minister of Sudan (1986-1989), Member, Club of Madrid
Al Sadig Al-Mahdi won the general elections to become Prime Minister of Sudan in 1986, a position he retained until the government was overthrown in 1989. Despite spending years in prison and exile, Al Mahdi has worked to promote democratization, peace, and national reconciliation within Sudan. His leadership contributed to the downfall of the Aboud dictatorship in 1964, an accord of national reconciliation mandating democratic reform in 1977, and the revolution of April 1985. In 2003, he signed the Cairo Declaration for peace and democratic transformation with the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). Currently, Al Mahdi continues his mobilization efforts to restore peace and democracy to Sudan, and to solve the dialectic between modern life and religious revival in the Muslim World.
H.E. KIM CAMPBELL
Former Prime Minister of Canada (1993), Secretary General, Club of Madrid
Kim Campbell served as Canada's first female Prime Minister after she was elected Leader of the Canadian Progressive Conservative Party in 1993. Prior to serving as Prime Minister, she was the first woman to hold the Justice and Defense portfolios and the first woman to be Defense Minister of a NATO country. Since her tenure as Prime Minister, Campbell has served as the Canadian Consul-General in Los Angeles (1996-2000), President of the Council of Women World Leaders (1999-2003), and President of the International Women's Forum (2003-present). In addition, she is Director of the International Leadership Association and chairs the International Advisory Board to the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation. She has been Secretary General of the Club of Madrid since January 2004.
H.E. PETRE ROMAN
Former Prime Minister of Romania (1989-1991), Member, Club of Madrid
Petre Roman was a founding member of the National Salvation Front and in 1989 became the first Prime Minister of post-communist Romania, serving until 1991. In 1992 he became a member of the Chamber of Deputies, where he chaired the Defense Committee until 1996. Subsequently, he served as a Senator and as Chairman of the Defense Committee from 1996 to 1999 and as the Minister of State and Foreign Affairs from 1999 to 2000. He also held the post of Chairman of the Democratic Party of Romania from 1993 to 2001 and was Chairman of the Senate from 1997 to 2001. He was reelected Senator in November of 2000 and continues to serve in that capacity. Roman was also a Special Rapporteur to the North Atlantic Assembly from 1993 to 1996, and the Acting President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation from 1997 to 1998.
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