Speaker Details

Amadou MBOW

UNESCO Director General from 1974 to 1987 Amadou-Mahtar M'Bow (born 1921), is a Senegalese educator. Born in Dakar, M'Bow volunteered for the French army and served in France and North Africa during World War II. In 1947 he passed the Baccalaureate and entered the Sorbonne University in Paris. He graduated in 1951 with a License ès Lettres degree in geography. M'bow began working for UNESCO in 1953 and was the director-general from 1974 to 1987, being the first black African to head a United Nations support organization. He called the Commission over the Problems of Communication which delivered the MacBride Report (so called after its president, Seán MacBride) in May 1980, supporting international claims for a New World Information and Communication Order. M'Bow began working for UNESCO in 1953 with the literacy program "Le Service de l'Education de Base." Back home in 1957, M'Bow assumed the post of minister of national education and culture in the first indigenous Senegalese government to handle internal affairs. In 1958 M'Bow clashed with Léopold Senghor, another nationalist leader and Senegal's future president, over the issue of transition to independence. M'Bow supported immediate and complete independence for Senegal, while Senghor and a majority of Senegalese favored continued affiliation with the French community. In 1966 M'Bow became a member of UNESCO's executive board and twice--in 1966 and 1968--he served as head delegate of the Senegalese mission to UNESCO. In 1970 M'Bow became assistant director general for education of UNESCO. Four years later, at age 53, M'Bow became UNESCO's director general, succeeding Réné Maheu. M'Bow was the first Black African to head a United Nations support organization. He won unanimous reelection to a second term of seven years in September of 1980. M'Bow's leadership triggered strong Western criticism, and a number of nations withdrew from UNESCO. M'Bow emphasized such politically-charged topics as disarmament, Israel, and South Africa, rather than such less controversial subjects as scientific cooperation, literacy programs, and cultural preservation and exchanges. M'Bow explained his emphasis by describing UNESCO's major function as intellectual collaboration rather than international development and preservation. Supporters of M'Bow, largely from the developing or Soviet-bloc countries, believed that political issues are basic to education, science, and culture. The United States and some other nations perceive UNESCO's politically-inclined resolutions often as "anti-Western" and as deviating from UNESCO's original functions and mission.