Senegalese scholar and politician Amadou Mahtar Mbow, who led the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) for 13 years, is dead, Senegal’s press agency (APS) reported on Tuesday.
Mbow, 103, who acted as the director-general of UNESCO from 1974 to 1987, was a symbolic figure in Senegal and across Africa, where he advocated for education and peace.
According to APS, he passed away on Monday night in the capital city of Dakar.
“It is with deep emotion that I learn of the death of Professor Amadou Mahtar Mbow,” Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye posted on X, describing him as a “great defender of multilateralism”.
“It’s one of the patriarchs of the Senegalese nation who has passed away, leaving an inestimable legacy, marked by his fight for global educational and cultural justice,” he added.
Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko also paid tribute to “a great intellectual and man of culture” who “devoted his life to our nation and to Africa”.
Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General, honoured Mbow and his legacy at the helm of the UN agency.
“The first African to head an international organisation, a convinced humanist and a consummate intellectual, he left a profound mark on our institution by forcefully defending the need for solidarity and equal dignity between peoples and cultures,” she told AFP.
Mbow, born in 1921, was involved in Senegal’s fight for independence while his country was still under colonial rule.
Mbow, who studied in France, taught history and geography after returning to his home country.
Under Senegal’s first president, Leopold Sedar Senghor, he was appointed minister for education and culture.
At age 87, in 2008, Mbow served as the National Conference of Senegal.