Alassane Ouattara Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Alassane Ouattara GColIH
Ouattara in 2024

5th President of Ivory Coast
Incumbent
Assumed office 4 December 2010
Prime Minister	Guillaume Soro Jeannot Ahoussou-Kouadio Daniel Kablan Duncan Amadou Gon Coulibaly Hamed Bakayoko Patrick Achi Robert Beugré Mambé
Vice President	Daniel Kablan Duncan Tiémoko Meyliet Koné
Preceded by	Laurent Gbagbo
2nd Prime Minister of the Ivory Coast
In office 7 November 1990 – 9 December 1993
President	Félix Houphouët-Boigny
Preceded by	Félix Houphouët-Boigny
Succeeded by	Daniel Kablan Duncan
24th Minister of the Economy and Finance
In office October 1990 – November 1993
30th Deputy Director General of the International Monetary Fund
In office 1994–1999
25th Governor of the Central Bank of West African States
In office December 1988 – November 1990
Preceded by	Abdoulaye Fadiga
Succeeded by	Charles Konan Banny

Personal details
Born	(1942-01-01) 1 January 1942 (age 83) Sindou, French West Africa (present-day Burkina Faso)
Political party	Democratic Party (Before 1994) Rally of the Republicans (1994–present)
Spouses	Barbara Jean Davis (m. 1966, divorced) Dominique Nouvian (m. 1991)
Children	2
Relatives	Téné Birahima Ouattara (brother)
Alma mater	Drexel University (BS) University of Pennsylvania (MA, PhD)
Website	Official Presidential website: https://www.presidence.ci/

Alassane Dramane Ouattara (born 1 January 1942) is a politician and economist from Ivory Coast (also known as Côte d'Ivoire). He has been the President of Ivory Coast since 2010. Before becoming president, he worked as an economist for important financial groups. He also served as the Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire from 1990 to 1993.

Early Life and Family
Work in Finance
Political Career
Honours and Awards
- National Honours
- Foreign Honours
See Also

Early Life and Family

Alassane Ouattara was born on January 1, 1942, in Dimbokro, which was then part of French West Africa. His family has roots in the Kong Empire, which was once ruled by Muslim leaders in what is now Burkina Faso. Ouattara is a Muslim and belongs to the Dyula people.

He studied in the United States. In 1965, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Drexel University in Philadelphia. Later, he received both his master's degree in economics in 1967 and a Ph.D. in economics in 1972 from the University of Pennsylvania.

Ouattara has two children, David Dramane Ouattara and Fanta Catherine Ouattara, from his first marriage to Barbara Jean Davis. In 1991, he married Dominique Nouvian, a businesswoman from France.

Work in Finance

Ouattara started his career as an economist for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, D.C., from 1968 to 1973. The IMF is an organization that helps countries with their money and economies.

He then worked for the West African Central Bank (Banque Centrale des Etats de l’Afrique de l’Ouest, BCEAO). He was a special advisor and director of research there. From 1983 to 1984, he was the Vice Governor of the BCEAO.

From 1984 to 1988, he was the Director of the African Department at the IMF. In 1988, he became the Governor of the BCEAO. People knew him as a hard worker who believed in being open and honest in financial matters.

Political Career

Becoming Prime Minister

In 1990, the IMF suggested that the Ivorian president, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, appoint Ouattara to help manage the country's economy. Ouattara became the Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire on November 7, 1990. He also served as the Minister of Economy and Finance until 1993.

After President Houphouët-Boigny passed away in December 1993, Ouattara resigned as prime minister. He then returned to the IMF, working as a Deputy Managing Director from 1994 to 1999.

Elections and Political Challenges

Before the 1995 presidential election, new rules were made that seemed to prevent Ouattara from running. These rules said that candidates needed to have parents who were both Ivorian and to have lived in the country for the past five years. Because of his work with the IMF, Ouattara had not lived in Ivory Coast since 1990.

The Rally of the Republicans (RDR) political party wanted Ouattara to be their candidate. However, because of the new rules, he could not run. The RDR, along with another party, decided not to take part in the election.

In 1999, after leaving the IMF, Ouattara was chosen as the President of the RDR party. He also became their candidate for the next presidential election. He stated that he was eligible to run, showing documents that he said proved his Ivorian birth.

A new constitution was approved in 2000. It also had rules that made it difficult for Ouattara to run for president. These issues were a big reason for the First Ivorian Civil War that started in 2002.

In 2007, the then-President Gbagbo confirmed that Ouattara could run in the next election. Ouattara was again chosen as the RDR's presidential candidate in 2008.

2010 Presidential Election

Ouattara at UNESCO in September 2011

The presidential elections, which were delayed, finally took place in November 2010. Early results showed that Alassane Ouattara had won. However, the ruling party challenged these results.

The country's Constitutional Council, which had supporters of the other candidate, declared different results. They said that Gbagbo had won the election. But most countries and the United Nations recognized Alassane Ouattara as the winner.

This disagreement led to a serious political crisis and the Second Ivorian Civil War. Many people had to leave their homes. The African Union and the United Nations tried to help solve the conflict.

Hillary Clinton and Ouattara respond to questions from reporters during their joint press conference in Abidjan, 2012

Eventually, with international support, Gbagbo was taken into custody in April 2011. Alassane Ouattara then officially became the President of Ivory Coast. The war caused a lot of damage to the country. It was a big challenge for President Ouattara to help rebuild the economy and bring people together.

World leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, welcomed these changes.

Second Term (2015–2020)

Shinzo Abe with Alassane Ouattara in 2019

In 2015, Ouattara was re-elected for his second five-year term as president. He won with a large number of votes, showing strong support from the people.

In March 2020, President Ouattara announced that he would not run for president again in the elections later that year. He supported his Prime Minister, Amadou Gon Coulibaly, to be the next candidate. However, Coulibaly sadly passed away suddenly in July 2020.

After this, Ouattara decided to run for a third term. This decision was debated because the Ivorian constitution usually limits presidents to two terms. However, the Constitutional Court ruled that his first term, which was under a different constitution, did not count towards the limit. This allowed him to run again.

The election in October 2020 was boycotted by some opposition parties. Alassane Ouattara was re-elected with a high percentage of the votes.

Honours and Awards

Alassane Ouattara has received many awards and honours from his own country and from other countries around the world. These awards recognize his leadership and contributions.