kids encyclopedia robot

Alassane Ouattara facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
Alassane Ouattara
A. Ouattara.jpg
Ouattara in 2017
5th President of Ivory Coast
Assumed office
4 December 2010
Prime Minister Guillaume Soro
Jeannot Ahoussou-Kouadio
Daniel Kablan Duncan
Amadou Gon Coulibaly
Hamed Bakayoko
Patrick Achi
Vice President Daniel Kablan Duncan
Tiémoko Meyliet Koné
Preceded by Laurent Gbagbo
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
Minister of the Economy and Finance of the Ivory Coast
In office
October 1990 – November 1993
Deputy Director General of the International Monetary Fund
In office
1994–1999
Governor of the Central Bank of West African States
In office
December 1988 – November 1990
Personal details
Born (1942-01-01) 1 January 1942 (age 81)
Dimbokro, French West Africa
(present-day Côte d'Ivoire)
Political party Democratic Party (Before 1994)
Rally of the Republicans (1994–present)
Spouse(s) Dominique Nouvian (1991–present)
Relatives Téné Birahima Ouattara (brother)
Alma mater Drexel University
University of Pennsylvania
Website Official Presidential website: http://www.presidence.ci/
  • The presidency was disputed between Ouattara and Laurent Gbagbo from 4 December 2010 to 11 April 2011.

Alassane Dramane Ouattara (; French pronunciation: [alasan wataʁa]; born 1 January 1942) is an Ivorian politician who has been President of Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) since 2010. An economist by profession, Ouattara worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Central Bank of West African States (French: Banque Centrale des Etats de l'Afrique de l'Ouest, BCEAO), and he was the Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire from November 1990 to December 1993, appointed to that post by President Félix Houphouët-Boigny. Ouattara became the President of the Rally of the Republicans (RDR), an Ivorian political party, in 1999.

Early life

Ouattara was born on 1 January 1942, in '''SINDOU''' / Burkina Faso ex- Haute Volta in French West Africa. He is a descendant on his father's side of the Muslim rulers of Burkina Faso, then part of the Kong Empire—also known as the Wattara (Ouattarra) Empire. Ouattara is of Muslim background and is a member of the Dyula people. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1965 from the Drexel Institute of Technology (now Drexel University), in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ouattara then obtained both his master's degree in economics in 1967 and a PhD 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 American Barbara Jean Davis. In 1991, Ouattara married Dominique Nouvian, a French Catholic businesswoman of Jewish descent. Their wedding was held in the town hall of the 16th arrondissement of Paris.

Career at financial institutions

He was an economist for the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. from 1968 to 1973, and afterwards he was the Chargé de Mission in Paris of the Banque Centrale des Etats de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (West African Central Bank) from 1973 to 1975. With the BCEAO, he was then Special Advisor to the Governor and Director of Research from February 1975 to December 1982 and Vice Governor from January 1983 to October 1984. From November 1984 to October 1988 he was Director of the African Department at the IMF, and in May 1987 he additionally became Counsellor to the Managing Director at the IMF. On 28 October 1988 he was appointed as Governor of the BCEAO, and he was sworn in on 22 December 1988. Ouattara has a reputation as a hard worker, keen on transparency and good governance.

Honours

National honours

  •  Ivory Coast:
    • Cote d'Ivoire Ordre national GC ribbon.svg Grand Collar of the National Order of the Ivory Coast (4 December 2010)

Foreign honours

See also

kids search engine
Alassane Ouattara Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.