Amadou-Mahtar M'Bow

{{Short description|Senegalese politician and civil servant (1921–2024)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Amadou-Mahtar M'Bow

| honorific_suffix = GCIH

| image = Unesco history, M'Bow - UNESCO - PHOTO0000002701 0001.tiff

| office = Director-General of UNESCO

| term_start = 1974

| term_end = 1987

| predecessor = René Maheu

| successor = Federico Mayor Zaragoza

| birth_date = {{birth date|1921|3|20|df=y}}

| birth_place = Dakar, French West Africa (now Senegal)

| death_date = {{death date and age|2024|9|24|1921|3|20|df=y}}

| death_place = Dakar, Senegal

| education = Sorbonne University

| occupation = {{hlist|Politician|diplomat|educator}}

| caption = M'Bow in 1974

}}

Amadou-Mahtar M'Bow GCIH (20 March 1921 – 24 September 2024) was a Senegalese civil servant and Director-General of UNESCO. M'bow served in France and North Africa during World War II after volunteering for the French Army, also serving with the Free French, and finally in the French Air Force.{{cite book|last1=Meisler|first1=Stanley|title=United Nations: A History|date=2011|publisher=Grove Press|isbn=9780802194992|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kXOGGjrB28EC&q=Amadou-Mahtar+M%27Bow+army&pg=PA232|accessdate=19 December 2017|language=en}} After the end of the war, he studied geography at the Sorbonne University in Paris. He served at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris from 1953 to 1987.

Biography

M'Bow was born in Dakar on 20 March 1921.{{cite book|last=El Hareir|first=Idris|title=The Spread of Islam Throughout the World|year=2011|publisher=UNESCO|isbn=978-9231041532|page=906}}[https://books.google.com/books?id=nkVxNVvex-sC&dq=Amadou-Mahtar+M%27Bow+1921&pg=PA666 Profile of Amadou-Mahtar M'Bow] He began working for UNESCO in 1953 and served as its Director-General from 1974 to 1987, being the first black African to head a United Nations organisation. His tenure has been described as marked by an alternative framework for the production of knowledge and information, moving away from Eurocentric tendencies and encouraging the diversity of experiences and cultures.{{Cite book|last=Davies|first=Carole Elizabeth Boyce|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nkVxNVvex-sC&dq=Amadou-Mahtar+M%27Bow+1921&pg=PA666|title=Encyclopedia of the African Diaspora: Origins, Experiences, and Culture|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2008|isbn=978-1-85109-705-0|location=Santa Barbara, California|pages=666|language=en}} He was President of the PanAfrican Archaeological Association from 1967 to 1971.{{Cite web|title=Congresses and Presidents – PanAfrican Archaeological Association|url=http://www.panafprehistory.org/en/static/previous-congress-proceedings|access-date=22 October 2021|website=www.panafprehistory.org}}

In 1978, he made the speech "A plea for the return of an irreplaceable cultural heritage to those who created it", where he called for the restitution of cultural heritage from the northern to the southern hemisphere.Speech held in Paris on 7 June 1978, available on the UNESCO website. See Amadou-Mahtar M'Bow, "Pour le retour, a ceux qui l'ont crée, d’un patrimoine culturel irremplaçable", Museum, vol. 31, no. 1, 1979, p. 58. His call followed the 1973 resolution no. 3187 about the Restitution of works of art to countries victims of expropriation,{{Cite web|last=United Nations|date=December 1973|title=Resolution 3187|url=https://undocs.org/en/A/RES/3187(XXVIII)&Lang=E&Area=RESOLUTION|url-status=live|access-date=18 October 2021|website=undocs.org|format=pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018180911/https://undocs.org/en/A/RES/3187(XXVIII)&Lang=E&Area=RESOLUTION |archive-date=18 October 2021 }} but had no decisive effect on restitutions.

In May 1980, M'Bow called the Commission over the Problems of Communication which delivered the MacBride Report (so called after its president, Seán MacBride), supporting international claims for a New World Information and Communication Order. His departure in 1987 followed criticism for administrative and budgetary practices and the US withdrawal from UNESCO in 1984 (followed by the UK in 1985).{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

In 1980, M'Bow was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Belgrade. In February 1981, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Rijksuniversiteit Gent (Ghent University). He retired to his home country of Senegal in 1987 and celebrated his 100th birthday in March 2021.{{cite web|url=https://www.rewmi.com/senegal-le-visionnaire-amadou-mahtar-mbow-fete-ses-100-ans/|title=Amadou Mahtar Mbow fête ses 100 ans|publisher=Rewmi|date=20 March 2021|access-date=20 March 2021|language=fr}}

File:Amadou-Mahtar M'Bow 1-2.jpg

M'Bow died on 24 September 2024, at the age of 103.{{cite web|url=https://www.senenews.com/actualites/le-senegal-en-deuil-le-professeur-amadou-mahtar-mbow-sest-eteint-ce-matin_509359.html|title=Le Sénégal en deuil : Le professeur Amadou Mahtar Mbow s'est éteint ce matin |publisher=senenews.con|date=24 September 2024|access-date=24 September 2024|language=fr}}[https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/international/former-unesco-head-amadou-mahtar-mbow-dead-103 Former Unesco head Amadou Mahtar Mbow dead at 103]{{Cite news |date=2024-09-24 |title=Mort d'Amadou Mahtar Mbow, ancien directeur général de l'Unesco |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2024/09/24/mort-d-amadou-mahtar-m-bow-ancien-secretaire-general-de-l-unesco_6331796_3212.html |access-date=2024-10-09 |language=fr}}

Honours

80px Grand-Cross of the Order of Prince Henry, Portugal (6 April 2017){{cite web|title=Cidadãos Nacionais Agraciados com Ordens Portuguesas|url=http://www.ordens.presidencia.pt/?idc=154|website=Página Oficial das Ordens Honoríficas Portuguesas|accessdate=31 July 2017}}