Rulers

Index Aa-Ag

Aab, Jaak (b. April 9, 1960, Taagepera, Estonian S.S.R.), Estonian politician. He was minister of social affairs (2005-07), public administration (2017-18, 2019-20, 2021-22), and education and research (2020-21).

Aalberse, Piet (b. March 27, 1871, Leiden, Netherlands - d. July 5, 1948, The Hague, Netherlands), Dutch politician. He was minister of labour (1918-25) and trade and industry (1923-25) and chairman of the Second Chamber (1936-37).

Aall, (Hans) Jørgen (Christian) (b. Nov. 4, 1806, Næs [now part of Tvedestrand municipality], Nedenes amt [now in Agder fylke], Norway - d. Feb. 24, 1894, Kristiania [now Oslo], Norway), governor of Bratsberg amt (1846-77). He was also mayor of Bergen (1839-41, 1843-44, 1846).

Aalto, Arvo (Aulis) (b. July 13, 1932, Rovaniemi, northern Finland), Finnish politician. He was minister of labour in 1977-81 and chairman of the Finnish Communist Party from May 1984 to May 1988.

Aandahl, Fred G(eorge) (b. April 9, 1897, Svea township, near Litchville, N.D. - d. April 7, 1966, Fargo, N.D.), governor of North Dakota (1945-51). He served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives (1951-53) and was assistant secretary of the interior (1953-61).

Aardenne, Gijs(bert Michiel Vredenrijk) van (b. March 18, 1930, Rotterdam, Netherlands - d. Aug. 10, 1995, Dordrecht, Netherlands), deputy prime minister of the Netherlands (1982-86). He was also minister of economic affairs (1977-81, 1982-86) and finance (acting, 1980).


Aariak
Aariak, Eva (Qamaniq) (b. 1955?, Arctic Bay, N.W.T. [now in Nunavut]), premier (2008-13) and commissioner (2021- ) of Nunavut.

Aaron, Philbert, Dominica diplomat. He has been ambassador to Venezuela (2009-18) and permanent representative to the United Nations (2023- ).

Aarrestad, Sven (Eivindsen) (b. Oct. 8, 1850, Varhaug [now part of Hå municipality], Stavanger amt [now Rogaland fylke], Norway - d. Jan. 19, 1942, Arendal, Aust-Agder [now in Agder], Norway), governor of Nedenes amt (1908-16). He was also Norwegian agriculture minister (1906-08).


Jan van Aartsen

Jozias van Aartsen
Aartsen, Jan van, byname of Johannes van Aartsen (b. Sept. 15, 1909, Amsterdam, Netherlands - d. April 2, 1992, Vlissingen, Zeeland, Netherlands), minister of transport and water management (1958-59, 1963-65) and of housing and construction industry (1959-63) of the Netherlands and queen's commissioner of Zeeland (1965-74).

Aartsen, Jozias (Johannes) van (b. Dec. 25, 1947, The Hague, Netherlands), foreign minister of the Netherlands (1998-2002); son of Jan van Aartsen. He was minister of agriculture, nature management, and fisheries in 1994-98 and political leader of the right-liberal party VVD in 2003-06. He was also mayor of The Hague (2008-17), acting king's commissioner of Drenthe (2017), and acting mayor of Amsterdam (2017-18).

Aas, Arne (Gunerius) (b. Sept. 26, 1890, Fauskevåg, Tromsø amt [now Troms fylke], Norway - d. April 28, 1953, Tromsø, Norway), governor of Troms (1946-53).

Aas, Gunder (b. May 13, 1785, Melhus, Nordre Trondhjems amt [now in Trøndelag fylke], Norway - d. May 5, 1853, Stavanger, Stavanger amt [now Rogaland fylke], Norway), governor of Stavanger amt (1833-53).

Aas, Taavi (b. Jan. 10, 1966, Tallinn, Estonian S.S.R.), Estonian politician. He was mayor of Tallinn (2017-19) and minister of economic affairs and infrastructure (2019-22).

Aasland (Houg), Tora (b. Nov. 6, 1942, Skien, Telemark, Norway), governor of Rogaland (1991-2013). She was also Norwegian minister of research and higher education (2007-12).

Aasmäe, Hardo (b. Feb. 11, 1951, Rannamõisa, Haapsalu district, Estonian S.S.R. - d. Dec. 29, 2014, Tallinn, Estonia), Estonian politician. He was mayor of Tallinn (1990-92).

Aavatsmark, Ole (Severin) (b. March 6, 1918, Namsos, Nordre Trondhjems amt [now in Trøndelag fylke], Norway - d. March 31, 1983), governor of Nordland (1966-83).

Aaviksoo, Jaak (b. Jan. 11, 1954, Tartu, Estonian S.S.R.), defense minister of Estonia (2007-11). He was also minister of culture and education (1995), education (1996), and education and research (2011-14) and rector of the University of Tartu (1998-2006).


Ab Rauf
Ab Rauf (bin) Yusoh, Datuk Seri (b. Sept. 20, 1961), chief minister of Malacca (2023- ). He was awarded the titles Datuk (2002), Datuk Wira (2014), Dato' Sri (2015), and Datuk Seri (2017).


Abacha
Abacha, Sani (b. Sept. 20, 1943, Kano, Nigeria - d. June 8, 1998, Abuja, Nigeria), chairman of the Provisional Ruling Council of Nigeria (1993-98). A career military man, he rose through the ranks (colonel, 1975; brigadier, 1980) and assisted (December 1983) Ibrahim Babangida in overthrowing elected president Alhaji Shehu Shagari. In 1985 Babangida staged another coup and installed himself as leader of the nation. Abacha became army chief of staff (1985) and defense minister and second in command to Babangida (1990). Elections in 1993 were apparently won by the Social Democratic candidate, Moshood Abiola, but the military government soon annulled the results. Abacha took advantage of public outrage and took power himself. While he promised a return to civilian rule by 1995, he dismantled most democratic institutions and siphoned off for himself as much as $4 billion of the country's oil profits. In June 1994 Abiola publicly declared himself the rightful president of Nigeria and was promptly jailed on treason charges. On Nov. 10, 1995, writer and environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other activists from the oil-rich Ogoniland area in the southeast were executed for treason; Nigeria was subsequently suspended from the Commonwealth. In March 1997 Wole Soyinka, self-exiled Nobel laureate and Nigeria's best-known writer, was charged with treason in absentia. Though in October 1995 Abacha had said he would step down after elections to be held in 1998, in early 1997 he hinted that he might want to run for president himself. After supporters ensured his adoption as the lone candidate by all five political parties in April 1998, Abacha was widely expected to keep hold of power through presidential elections scheduled for August 1. He died in office. He was also chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (1996-98).

Abad Santos (y Basco), Jose (b. Feb. 19, 1886, San Fernando, Pampanga, Philippines - d. [executed] May 2, 1942, Malabang, Lanao, Philippines), justice secretary (1922-23, 1928-32, 1938-41) and acting finance secretary (1941-42) of the Philippines; brother of Pedro Abad Santos. He was also chief justice (1941-42).

Abad Santos (y Basco), Pedro (b. Jan. 31, 1876, San Fernando, Pampanga, Philippines - d. Jan. 15, 1945, Minalin, Pampanga, Philippines), Philippine politician. In 1932 he founded the Socialist Party, which in 1938 merged with the Communist Party. In 1941 he became a presidential candidate but withdrew before the election.

Abad Santos, Vicente (b. July 12, 1916, San Fernando, Pampanga, Philippines - d. Dec. 30, 1993), justice secretary of the Philippines (1970-79); nephew of Jose Abad Santos.


Abadi
Abadi, Haider (Jawad) al- (b. 1952, Baghdad, Iraq), prime minister of Iraq (2014-18). He was also minister of communications (2003-04).

Abadia, Maria de Lourdes (b. Aug. 14, 1944, Bela Vista de Goiás, Goiás, Brazil), governor of Distrito Federal (2006-07).

Abadía Arias, Jorge, byname Pato Abadía (b. May 15, 1927 - d. Aug. 9, 2013), foreign minister of Panama (1985-88).

Abadía Méndez, Miguel (b. June 5, 1867, La Vega de los Padres [now Piedras], Tolima, Colombia - d. May 15, 1947, La Unión, Cundinamarca, Colombia), finance and acting foreign minister (1901-02), interior minister (1909-10, 1914-18, 1924-25), and president (1926-30) of Colombia. He was also minister of education (1900-01, 1919-21) and minister to Chile, Argentina, and Brazil (1902-04).

Abadie, Henry Richard (b. March 25, 1841 - d. May 9, 1915), lieutenant governor of Jersey (1900-04).

Abadie, (Jean Baptiste Marie) Jules (b. Aug. 12, 1876, Blaye, Gironde, France - d. Aug. 10, 1953, Oran, Algeria), Free French commissioner for justice (1943). He was also commissioner for national education and public health (1943) and mayor of Oran (1948).

Abaeté, Antonio Paulino Limpo de Abreu, visconde de (b. Sept. 22, 1798, Lisbon, Portugal - d. Sept. 14, 1883, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), principal minister (1835-36, 1836, 1837), foreign minister (1836, 1837, 1845-46, 1848, 1853-55), and chairman of the Council of Ministers (1858-59) of Brazil. He was also president of the Chamber of Deputies (1832-34, 1845) and the Senate (1861-73), president of Minas Gerais (1833-34), minister of justice (1835-36, 1840-41, 1845-46), finance (1848), and navy (1858-59), and minister to Argentina (1855-56). He was made viscount in 1854.

Abah Abah, Polycarpe (b. Sept. 17, 1954, Zoétélé, French Cameroons [now in Cameroon]), finance minister of Cameroon (2004-07).

Abakar, Mouctar (b. 1977), Chadian diplomat. He has been permanent representative to the United Nations (2022- ).


S. Abal

Abal Medina
Abal, Sam(uel Tei) (b. June 26, 1958), foreign minister (2007-10), deputy prime minister (2010-11), and acting prime minister (2010-11, 2011) of Papua New Guinea. He became ambassador to Japan in 2021.

Abal Medina, Juan Manuel (b. May 5, 1968, Buenos Aires, Argentina), cabinet chief of Argentina (2011-13).

Abalakov, Mukhammed (Khodzhamukhammedovich) (b. 1947), economy and finance minister of Turkmenistan (1993-95). He was also a deputy prime minister (1995-99), minister of education (1996-97), chairman of the State Committee for Physical Culture and Sports (1999-2000), and ambassador to Kazakhstan (2000-08) and Saudi Arabia and Egypt (2008-12).

Abalkhail, Muhammad Ali (b. 1935, Buraidah, Saudi Arabia), finance and national economy minister of Saudi Arabia (1975-95).

Abalkin, Leonid (Ivanovich) (b. May 5, 1930, Moscow, Russian S.F.S.R. - d. May 2, 2011, Moscow), Soviet politician. He was a deputy premier and chairman of the State Commission for Economic Reform (1989-91).

Abalos, Benjamin, Jr., in full Benjamin de Castro Abalos, byname Benhur Abalos (b. July 19, 1962), interior secretary of the Philippines (2022- ). He was also mayor of Mandaluyong (1998-2004, 2007-16).

Abang Ahmad Urai (bin Datuk Hakim Abang Muhideen), Tan Sri (b. June 26, 1933, Kuching, Sarawak [now in Malaysia] - d. June 12, 2022, Kuching), Malaysian politician. He was president of the Dewan Negara (1988-90). He was awarded the title Tan Sri in 1989.


Abang J.
Abang Johari (bin) Tun Openg, Tan Sri (b. Aug. 4, 1950, Limbang, Sarawak [now in Malaysia]), chief minister (2017-22) and premier (2022- ) of Sarawak; son of Tun Abang Openg bin Abang Sapie. He was awarded the titles Dato' Sri (1990), Datuk Amar (2008), Datuk Patinggi (2017), and Tan Sri (2021).

Abang Muhammad Salahuddin (Abang Barieng), Tun (Pehin Sri) Datuk Patinggi (b. Aug. 27, 1921, Kampung Nangka, Sibu, Sarawak [now in Malaysia] - d. Jan. 28, 2022, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia), head of state of Sarawak (1977-81, 2000-14). He was awarded the titles Tun in 1978 and Pehin Sri in 2017.

Abang Openg bin Abang Sapie, Tun (Datuk) (b. Oct. 7, 1905, Kuching, Sarawak [now in Malaysia] - d. March 28, 1969), head of state of Sarawak (1963-69). He was awarded the title Tun in 1964.

Abani, Aboubacar Ibrahim (b. March 16, 1962, Zinder, Niger), Nigerien diplomat. He was permanent representative to the United Nations (2005-11).

Abarry, Abdou, Nigerien diplomat. He has been ambassador to Belgium (2003-12), permanent representative to the United Nations (2019-22), and head of the UN Regional Office for Central Africa (2022- ).

Abarzuza y Ferrer, Buenaventura (b. 1841, Havana, Cuba - d. April 13, 1910, Madrid, Spain), foreign minister of Spain (1902-03). He was also ambassador to France (1873-74) and overseas minister (1894-95).


Abascal
Abascal (Carranza), (José) Carlos (María) (b. June 14, 1949, Mexico City, Mexico - d. Dec. 2, 2008, Mexico City), interior minister of Mexico (2005-06). He was the son of Salvador Abascal Infante, founder of the reactionary-Catholic Unión Nacional Sinarquista, which later became the Partido Demócrata Mexicano. He was president of the powerful business association Coparmex before he became labour minister when Pres. Vicente Fox took office in 2000 after a historic election victory that ended 71 years of one-party rule. He is credited with avoiding major conflict with organized labour as Mexico made the transition from decades of cozy relations between the Institutional Revolutionary Party and union bosses co-opted by the long-ruling party. He drew ridicule early in his tenure as labour minister when he publicly objected to erotic passages in books by Carlos Fuentes and Gabriel García Márquez on his 14-year-old daughter's reading list at school.


Abashidze
Abashidze, Aslan (Ibragimovich), Georgian Aslan (Ibraimis dze) Abashidze (b. July 20, 1938, Batumi, Adzhar A.S.S.R., Georgian S.S.R.), chairman of the Supreme Council of Ajaria (1991-2004). He was minister of consumer services of the Adzhar A.S.S.R. in 1984-86, then deputy minister of consumer services of the Georgian S.S.R. In 1991 he was appointed to head the autonomous republic, which he kept out of the Georgian turmoil in subsequent years and ruled in an authoritarian fashion. He was a Georgian presidential candidate in 2000, but withdrew shortly before the election. Considered pro-Russian, he was elected in Ajaria by popular vote for the first time on Nov. 4, 2001. In 2004 Pres. Mikheil Saakashvili's administration in Tbilisi sought to assert its authority over the region, and Abashidze gave up power and moved to Moscow when security guarantees were provided for him, Saakashvili pledging that he would not seek Abashidze's extradition. In March 2006 he was charged with the premeditated murder on April 30, 1991, of his deputy, Nodar Imnadze. According to Imnadze's daughter, who witnessed the killing, Abashidze shot Imnadze four times in the back following a heated disagreement but Abashidze's lawyer said he fired in self-defense after Imnadze opened fire in his office and injured both Abashidze and Murman Omanidze (later acting prime minister of Georgia). He was found guilty in absentia on Jan. 22, 2007, of forming illegal armed groups, defying the Georgian central government, and misappropriation of state property. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison and to pay $57 million in compensation to the Georgian budget.

Abassalah, Youssouf (b. April 1, 1964, Zouar, Tibesti region, Chad), justice minister of Chad (2016). He was also minister of petroleum (2002-04), mines (2004-06), commerce (2006-08), commerce and industry (2010-12), tourism, culture, and crafts (2016-17), youth, sports, and hobbies (2017), and mines, industrial and commercial development, and private sector promotion (2017-19) and ambassador to Russia (2012-16).

Abat, Fortunato (U.) (b. June 10, 1925, La Union, Philippines - d. March 7, 2018, Quezon City, Philippines), defense secretary of the Philippines (1997-98). He was also commanding general of the army (1976-81) and ambassador to China (1982-86).

Abaunza, Benjamín, interior minister of Nicaragua (1929-31).

Abaunza, Fernando, interior, justice, and police minister of Nicaragua (1898-1903).

Abaydildin, Talgatbek (Zhamshitovich) (b. Sept. 16, 1948, Akmolinsk [now Akmola] oblast, Kazakh S.S.R.), head of Vostochno-Kazakhstan oblast (2003-04).

Abayev, Aleksandr (Nafanailovich) (b. 1892, Vladikavkaz, Russia - d. [executed] Dec. 29, 1937, Tbilisi, Georgian S.S.R.), executive secretary of the Communist Party committee of South Ossetia (1925-28).

Abayev, Solomon (Nikolayevich) (b. 1904, Sba, Terek oblast, Russia - d. ...), acting chairman of the Executive Committee of the North Ossetian A.S.S.R. (1937-38).

Abayev, Vladimir (Davidovich) (b. Oct. 15, 1886, Sba, Tiflis province, Russia [now in Georgia] - d. 1964), chairman of the Revolutionary Committee of South Ossetia (1920).

Abaza, Aleksandr (Aggeyevich) (b. Aug. 5 [July 24, O.S.], 1821, Borovno estate, Tver province [now Borovno village, Novgorod oblast], Russia - d. Jan. 24, 1895, Nice, France), finance minister of Russia (1880-81). He was also state comptroller (1871-74).

Abaza, Nikolay (Savvich) (b. Aug. 19 [Aug. 7, O.S.], 1837, Moscow, Russia - d. Oct. 4 [Sept. 21, O.S.], 1901, Moscow), governor of Kherson (1871-74) and Ryazan (1874-80); cousin of Aleksandr Abaza; son-in-law of Valerian Safonovich.

Abazovic, Dritan (b. Dec. 25, 1985, Ulcinj, Montenegro), prime minister (2022-23) and acting foreign minister (2022-23) of Montenegro. He was also deputy prime minister (2020-22).

Abbadie, Jean-Jacques Blaise d' (b. 1726 - d. Feb. 4, 1765, New Orleans, Louisiana), governor of Louisiana (1763-65).

Abbas, Chaudhry Ghulam (b. Feb. 4, 1904, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India - d. Dec. 18, 1967, Rawalpindi, Pakistan), supreme head of Azad Kashmir (1951).


F. Abbas
Abbas, Ferhat (Mekki), Arabic Farhat `Abbas (b. Aug. 24, 1899, Bouafroune, near Constantine, Algeria - d. Dec. 24, 1985, Algiers, Algeria), Algerian politician. Early in his political career he was considered a pro-French moderate. In the 1930s he was a minor official in the French administration in northeast Algeria. But he became increasingly nationalist in his views and drafted the "Manifesto of the Algerian People" (proclaimed Feb. 10, 1943), which called for autonomy for Algeria and equality for the Muslims. As the French rejected anything other than "French Algeria," Abbas and an Algerian working-class leader, Messali Hadj, formed the Friends of the Manifesto and Liberty (March 14, 1944), which envisioned a federation of an independent Algeria and France. Arrested on May 8, 1945, he was released in March 1946 and a month later founded the Democratic Union of the Algerian Manifesto, which advocated cooperation with France in the formation of the Algerian state. But his conciliatory attempts failed to evoke a sympathetic response from French officials, and in 1956 he escaped to Cairo to join what became known as the National Liberation Front (FLN), committed to revolutionary struggle for independence. On Sept. 19, 1958, a Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic was formed with Abbas as president. He resigned in 1961 but was elected president of the Algerian Constituent Assembly when Algeria gained independence in 1962. To protest the drafting of the Algerian constitution by the FLN outside the Constituent Assembly, he resigned his post as president of the assembly on Aug. 14, 1963, and was expelled from the FLN. He was placed under house arrest on July 3, 1964, but was released the following year. His issue of an appeal to the people on March 11, 1976, was followed by another period of house arrest.


M. Abbas
Abbas, Mahmoud (Rida), Arabic Mahmud (Rida) `Abbas, byname Abu Mazen (b. March 26?, 1935, Safed, Palestine [now in Israel]), prime minister (2003) and president (2005- ) of the Palestinian Authority. A founding member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1964, he remained at Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat's side as secretary-general of the PLO executive committee and, since 1968, as a member of the Palestine National Council, the PLO legislature. He argued for political dialogue with Israel in the 1970s when most other Palestinians believed in securing their rights by armed struggle. But the PLO did not seriously pursue the political option he advocated until 1982, when it was expelled from Lebanon. Along with the rest of the PLO leadership in exile, he had to seek refuge in Tunisia until 1994. He was the main PLO liaison man with the Palestinian delegation at the Madrid international peace conference in 1991. Israel at that time still insisted the PLO was a terrorist organization and would only deal with Palestinian leaders living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as part of a Jordanian delegation. In 1993 secret contacts overseen by Abbas culminated in the Oslo peace accord under which Israel and the PLO recognized each other and the Palestinians obtained limited autonomy in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Becoming the first Palestinian prime minister in 2003, he pledged to rein in armed factions and democratize governance to advance the U.S.-backed "road map to peace." But four months later he resigned over what he called obstruction by Arafat - who denied charges of fomenting violence - and continued Israeli military strikes. Following Arafat's death in 2004, he took over as chairman of the PLO executive committee, and in early 2005 he was elected president.

Abbas, Maldoum Bada (b. 1952 - d. 2006?), interior minister (1991) and justice minister (1995-96) of Chad.


Y.S. Abbas
Abbas, Youssouf Saleh (b. 1952, Abéché, Chad), prime minister of Chad (2008-10).

Abbas Halim Pasha, (Prince Muhammad) (b. Sept. 29, 1866, Cairo, Egypt - d. Jan. 10, 1935, Cairo), Ottoman official; brother of Said Halim Pasha. He was governor of Bursa (1913-14) and minister of public works (1914-17).


Abbas Hilmi
Abbas Hilmi Pasha, Arabic `Abbas Hilmi Basha, also called Abbas II (b. July 14, 1874, Alexandria, Egypt - d. Dec. 20, 1944, Geneva, Switzerland), khedive (viceroy) of Egypt (1892-1914). He was barely of age when the sudden death of his father, Muhammad Tawfiq Pasha, raised him to the khediviate. At the beginning of his reign, he was eager to exercise his new power and did not cooperate very cordially with Britain, whose increasing influence over Egypt had led to popular discontent and enthusiastic support for the nationalists. In 1894 he criticized the military efficiency of the British troops, whereupon the British consul-general, Baron Cromer, took steps to curb the viceroy's independence of action. Thereafter, although no longer heading the nationalist movement, Abbas provided financial assistance to the pan-Islamic and anti-British daily newspaper Al-Mu`ayyad. But during a visit to England in 1900, he declared himself ready to follow British advice and to cooperate with British officials. When in 1906 the nationalists demanded constitutional government for Egypt, Abbas rejected their demands. In 1907 he agreed to the formation of the National Party, to counter the Ummah Party of the moderate nationalists, which was supported by the British. Abbas' authority was further curtailed under the rule of Viscount Kitchener as consul-general (1911-14). On the outbreak of World War I Abbas was convalescing at his palace on the shores of the Bosporus, in Turkey. Unable to extricate himself from his loyalty to his sovereign and unwilling to return to Egypt, he found himself deposed, and Egypt declared a British protectorate, on Dec. 18, 1914. In 1922, when Egypt was declared independent, Abbas lost all rights to the throne. He passed the rest of his life in exile, mainly in Switzerland.

Abbasi, Mohammad Abbas (Ali Khan) (b. March 22, 1924, Bahawalpur, Punjab, India [now in Pakistan] - d. April 14, 1988), governor of Punjab (Pakistan) (1975-77); son of Sadeq Mohammad Khan V, emir of Bahawalpur.

Abbasi, Sadiq ul Rashid Mohammad (Ibrahim Khan) (b. Oct. 4, 1928 - d. March 21, 2002, Rawalpindi, Pakistan), governor of Sindh (1978-84); son of Sadeq Mohammad Khan V, emir of Bahawalpur; brother of Mohammad Abbas Abbasi.


S.K. Abbasi
Abbasi, Shahid Khaqan (b. Dec. 27, 1958, Karachi, Pakistan), prime minister of Pakistan (2017-18). He was also minister of commerce (2008) and petroleum and natural resources (2013-17).

Abbasov, Namig (Rashid oglu) (b. Feb. 22, 1940, Ordubad, Nakhichevan A.S.S.R., Azerbaijan S.S.R. - d. March 27, 2024), minister of national security of Azerbaijan (1994-2004). He was also ambassador to Uzbekistan (2004-12).

Abbatucci, Jacques Pierre Charles (b. Dec. 22, 1792, Zicavo, Corse [now in Corse-du-Sud], France - d. Dec. 11, 1857, Paris, France), justice minister of France (1852-57).


Abbe
Abbe, Godwin (Osagie) (b. Jan. 10, 1949, Benin City [now in Edo state], Nigeria), governor of Akwa Ibom (1988-90) and Rivers (1990-92) and interior minister (2007-09) and defense minister (2009-10) of Nigeria.

Abbett, Leon (b. Oct. 8, 1836, Philadelphia, Pa. - d. Dec. 4, 1894, Jersey City, N.J.), governor of New Jersey (1884-87, 1890-93).

Abbot, Charles G(reeley) (b. May 31, 1872, Wilton, N.H. - d. Dec. 17, 1973, Washington, D.C.), secretary of the Smithsonian Institution (1928-44).

Abbott, Anthony (Chisholm), byname Tony Abbott (b. Nov. 26, 1930, Montreal, Que. - d. March 23, 2023, Victoria, B.C.), Canadian politician. He was minister of consumer and corporate affairs (1976-77) and national revenue (1978-79).

Abbott, Caleb F. (b. 1811, Fryeburg, Mass. - d. April 24, 1855), mayor of Toledo (1850).

Abbott, Douglas (Charles) (b. May 29, 1899, Lennoxville, Que. - d. March 15, 1987, Ottawa, Ont.), defence minister (1945-46) and finance minister (1946-54) of Canada. He was also minister of national defence for naval services (1945-46).

Abbott, Evelyn Robins (b. May 9, 1873 - d. May 7, 1950), chief commissioner of Delhi (1924-26).

Abbott, Fernando (Fernandes) (b. Aug. 12, 1857, São Gabriel, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil - d. Aug. 13, 1924, São Gabriel), president of Rio Grande do Sul (1891, 1892-93). He was also Brazilian minister to Argentina (1894-97).

Abbott, Greg(ory Wayne) (b. Nov. 13, 1957, Wichita Falls, Texas), governor of Texas (2015- ).


J. Abbott
Abbott, Sir John (Joseph Caldwell) (b. March 12, 1821, St. Andrews, Lower Canada [now St.-André-Est, Que.] - d. Oct. 30, 1893, Montreal, Que.), prime minister of Canada (1891-92). In 1849 he signed the Annexation Manifesto, a document drawn up by a group of Montreal businessmen, advocating that the Canadian colonies relinquish their ties with Britain and join the United States. The threat of annexation was used mostly to extract concessions from Britain, but his opponents never let him forget this embarrassment. In 1857 he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the united province of Canada. In 1862 he served briefly as solicitor general in the Liberal administration of John Sandfield Macdonald and Louis Sicotte before going over to the Conservatives in 1865. As legal adviser to Sir Hugh Allan, president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, Abbott was implicated in the Pacific Scandal of 1873, in which Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald was accused of awarding a railway construction contract to Allan in return for campaign funds. As a result of the scandal, Abbott was defeated in the 1874 election, but he was reelected to the House of Commons in a by-election in 1881. On May 12, 1887, he was appointed to the Senate, in which he was made government leader. From 1887 to 1888 he was also mayor of Montreal. When, after the death of Macdonald in June 1891, the Conservatives looked for a new leader, Charles Tupper and John Thompson both successfully declined the job for different reasons but Abbott, although himself not enthusiastic about taking the position, was convinced to take the reins of power. He was unique in that he was the first Canadian prime minister who ruled from the Senate. The following year he resigned because of ill health and was knighted.

Abbott, John T(rue) (b. 1850, Keene, N.H. - d. March 8, 1914, Keene), U.S. diplomat; nephew of Person C. Cheney. He was minister to Colombia (1889-93).


T. Abbott
(1957- )
Abbott, Tony, byname of Anthony John Abbott (b. Nov. 4, 1957, London, England), prime minister of Australia (2013-15). He took a job as press secretary for Liberal Party leader John Hewson in 1990 and became executive director for Australians for a Constitutional Monarchy in 1993. In a March 1994 by-election, he was elected as MP for Warringah (New South Wales). In 1996 he became parliamentary secretary to the minister for employment, education, training, and youth affairs. He was minister for employment services (1998-2001), then was elevated to the cabinet as minister for employment, workplace relations, and small business (2001-03) and health and ageing (2003-07), and became leader of the Liberal Party and leader of the opposition on Dec. 1, 2009, defeating Malcolm Turnbull. He won the 2013 elections but was toppled already two years later when Turnbull successfully challenged him, winning back the party leadership and with it the prime ministership. The party had consistently been lagging behind the opposition Labor Party in opinion polls. Abbott was widely seen as too conservative and divisive and as governing in an authoritarian style. A series of hugely unpopular so-called "captain's picks" - most notoriously announcing an Australian knighthood for Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh - were not outweighed by his claimed achievements such as "stopping the boats" (of would-be immigrants). He lost his seat in the 2019 elections.


T. Abbott
(1941- )
Abbott, Tony, byname of Anthony John Abbott (b. Sept. 9, 1941, Ashton-under-Lyne, England), governor of Montserrat (1997-2001).


Abboud
Abboud, Ibrahim, Arabic `Abbud (b. Oct. 26, 1900, Muhammad Qawl [now in al-Bahr al-Ahmar state], Sudan - d. Sept. 9, 1983, Khartoum, Sudan), head of state of The Sudan (1958-64). He entered the Sudan Defense Force in 1925 and served in Eritrea, Ethiopia, and North Africa during World War II. He was promoted to the rank of general and appointed deputy commander-in-chief of the Sudanese army in 1954, and became commander-in-chief at the time of attainment of independence in 1956. He led an army coup against the government of Abdullah Khalil in 1958 and became chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and prime minister. His regime was unable either politically or economically to maintain effective rule over the country. After a civilian coup in late October 1964, he remained president but his power was severely limited; he resigned in mid-November in accordance with "the people's desire to liquidate the military regime in all its forms" and retired from public life.

`Abd al-Ahad Khan (b. March 16, 1859 - d. June 1, 1911), emir of Bukhara (1885-1911).

`Abd Allah (ibn Muhammad al-Ta´i´ishi), also called Abdullahi (b. 1846, Sudan - d. Nov. 24, 1899, Kordofan), Sudanese leader. Around 1880 he became a disciple of Muhammad Ahmad, who became known as al-Mahdi and made himself ruler of the Sudan. `Abd Allah was appointed a caliph (khalifa), and became leader of the Mahdist movement after al-Mahdi's death in 1885. Although al-Mahdi had clearly designated him as successor, the Ashraf, a portion of al-Mahdi's supporters, tried to reverse this decision, but `Abd Allah neutralized this opposition by promptly securing control of the vital administrative positions in the movement and obtaining the support of the most religiously sincere group of al-Mahdi's followers. He believed he could best establish his authority by maintaining the expansionist momentum begun by al-Mahdi. He launched attacks against Ethiopia and began an invasion of Egypt, where his troops suffered a crushing defeat in 1889. A feared Anglo-Egyptian advance up the Nile did not materialize at that time; instead, `Abd Allah suffered famine and military defeats in the eastern Sudan. In 1896, however, Anglo-Egyptian forces began their reconquest of the Sudan. Although `Abd Allah resisted for almost two years, he could not prevail against British machine guns. The Anglo-Egyptian army commanded by Lord Kitchener defeated the Mahdists at the Battle of Omdurman on Sept. 2, 1898. `Abd Allah was forced to flee the capital, but he remained at large with a considerable army. Many Egyptians and Sudanese resented the Condominium Agreement of January 1899, by which the Sudan became almost a British protectorate, and `Abd Allah hoped to rally support. But on Nov. 24, 1899, a British force wiped out the Mahdist remnants, and `Abd Allah died in the fighting.


Abd el-Krim
Abd el-Krim, in full Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi (b. 1882, Ajdir, Morocco - d. Feb. 6, 1963, Cairo, Egypt), leader of the Rif Republic (1923-26). In 1915 he was appointed the chief Muslim judge for the district of Melilla. He began to be disillusioned with Spanish rule in Morocco, opposed Spanish policies, and was imprisoned. He escaped and in 1918 was made chief Muslim judge at Melilla again, but he left the post in 1919 to return to Ajdir. When in 1920 a Spanish commander seized the holy town of Chechaouen, Abd el-Krim's father opened hostilities and was killed; the son vowed to avenge his father's death and began to organize tribal resistance against the foreign occupiers. In July 1921 he defeated a disorganized Spanish army at Annoual and pursued it to the suburbs of Melilla. In 1923 the Rif Republic was founded with Abd el-Krim as head of state. He defeated another Spanish army and captured his only rival, Raisuli, in 1924. In 1925 he crossed into French Morocco, almost reaching the ancient city of Fès. Seeing their colonial possessions threatened, a Franco-Spanish conference meeting in Madrid decided upon joint action. As a Spanish force landed at Alhucemas near Ajdir, a French army of 160,000 men under Marshal Philippe Pétain attacked from the south. Abd el-Krim surrendered to the French on May 27, 1926, and was deported to Réunion in the Indian Ocean. In 1947 he was to be transferred to house arrest in France, but he jumped ship at the Suez Canal and was granted political asylum by Egypt; for five years he presided over the Liberation Committee of the Arab West (sometimes called the Maghrib Bureau) in Cairo. After the restoration of Moroccan independence (1956), King Muhammad V invited him to return, which he refused as long as French troops remained on North African soil.

Abdallah, Abdel Rahman (b. 1933, Abu Hamad, Sudan), Sudanese politician. He was minister of public service and administrative reform (1971-77), industry and mining (1977), and transport (1977-78) and permanent representative to the United Nations (1980-84).


Abdelwahab
Abdallah

Ahmed
Abdallah

Asmaa
Abdallah
Abdallah, Abdelwahab, Arabic `Abd al-Wahhab `Abd Allah (b. Feb. 14, 1940, Monastir, Tunisia), foreign minister of Tunisia (2005-10). He was also information minister (1987-88) and ambassador to the United Kingdom (1988-90).

Abdallah (Abderemane), Ahmed (b. June 12, 1919, Domoni, Anjouan, Comoros - d. [assassinated] Nov. 27, 1989, Moroni), president of the Government Council (1972-75) and president (1975, 1978-89) of the Comoros. He was also president of the General Council (1949-53), president of the Chamber of Deputies (1970), and minister of justice and civil service (1978-82).

Abdallah, Ahmedou Ould, Arabic Ahmad walad `Abd Allah (b. Nov. 21, 1940), foreign minister of Mauritania (1979-80). He was also minister of commerce and transport (1971-72), ambassador to the United States (1973-76) and Belgium (1976-79), and UN special representative for Burundi (1993-95), West Africa (2002-07), and Somalia (2007-10).

Abdallah, Asmaa (Mohamed) (b. 1946, Khartoum, Sudan), foreign minister of The Sudan (2019-20).

Abdallah, Mouzaoir (b. 1941, Moroni, Comoros - d. April 29/30, 2020, Samba-Kouni, Comoros), foreign minister of the Comoros (1976-78, 1995-96). He was also president of the Chamber of Deputies (1974-75), education minister (1996-98), and president of the Constitutional Court (2004-07).

Abdallah Pene Mbaka, Jefferson (b. Dec. 19, 1971, Mambasa, Zaire [now Congo (Kinshasa)]), special commissioner (2015-16) and governor (2016-18) of Ituri.


Abdallahi

Abdel Aziz
Abdallahi, Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh, Arabic Sayyidi Muhammad walad Shaykh `Abd Allah (b. 1938, Aleg, Mauritania - d. Nov. 22, 2020, Nouakchott, Mauritania), president of Mauritania (2007-08). He was also minister of industrial development (1971-72), planning and industrial development (1972-75, 1976-77), national economy (1975-76), planning and mines (1977-78), hydraulics and energy (1985-86), and fishing and maritime economy (1986-87).

Abdel Aziz, Mohamed Ould, Arabic Muhammad walad `Abd al-`Aziz (b. Dec. 20, 1956, Akjoujt, Mauritania [some say Darou Mousti, Senegal]), chairman of the High Council of State (2008-09) and president (2009-19) of Mauritania; cousin of Ely Ould Mohamed Vall. In 2014-15 he was chairman of the African Union.

Abdel Fattah Yahya Pasha (b. 1876 - d. Sept. 27, 1951), foreign minister (1930-33, 1933-34, 1937-39) and prime minister (1933-34) of Egypt. He was also justice minister (1921, 1930).

Abdel Hadi Pasha, Ibrahim (b. 1896 - d. Feb. 18, 1981, Cairo, Egypt), foreign minister (1946) and prime minister and interior minister (1948-49) of Egypt. He was also minister of parliamentary affairs (1939-40) and commerce and industry (1940) and chief of the royal cabinet (1947-48).

Abdel Khalek Sarwat Pasha (b. 1873, Cairo, Egypt - d. Sept. 22, 1928, Paris, France), prime minister (1922, 1927-28) and foreign minister (1922, 1926-27) of Egypt.

Abdel Rahman, Ali (b. 1904 - d. ...), interior minister of The Sudan (1956-58). He was also minister of justice (1954-55), education (1955-56), and agriculture (1958).


Abdelatty
Abdelatty, Badr (Ahmed Mohamed) (b. Feb. 8, 1968), foreign minister of Egypt (2024- ). He was also ambassador to Germany (2015-19) and Belgium (2022-24).

Abdelaziz, Maged Abdelfattah (b. 1954), Egyptian diplomat. He was permanent representative to the United Nations (2005-12).


Mohamed Abdelaziz
Abdelaziz, Mohamed, Arabic Muhammad `Abd al-`Aziz (b. Aug. 17, 1947, Marrakech, Morocco - d. May 31, 2016, Rochester, Minn.), chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council (1976-82) and president (1982-2016) of the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic. He joined the liberation struggle of the Spanish Sahara while at university in Rabat, Morocco, becoming one of the early activists of the independence movement Polisario, founded in 1973. When Spain relinquished its control in 1976, Morocco and Mauritania laid claim to Western Sahara, despite a ruling from the International Court of Justice that the region should become independent. Morocco came to occupy most of the region and Mauritania a smaller part. In February 1976, Polisario declared the independence of the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), a government-in-exile based in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria's Tindouf province. This government was supported by Algeria and came to be recognized by up to about 65 nations. In August 1976, Abdelaziz was elected secretary-general of Polisario and head of state of the SADR. After negotiations with Polisario, Mauritania abandoned its claims in 1979, but this only led to Morocco taking over the entire territory. A lengthy peace process with UN involvement has continued ever since. A ceasefire was reached in 1991, under which Morocco consolidated its control; only a narrow zone in the east was controlled by Polisario. Morocco nominally agreed to but in practice delayed the holding of an independence referendum. In 1982 the SADR was admitted to the Organization of African Unity (OAU), which led to Morocco's withdrawal from the organization for over 30 years. In 2002 Abdelaziz was one of five regional representatives chosen to inaugurate the African Union, the successor to the OAU.

Abdelghani, Mohamed Ben Ahmed, Arabic Muhammad ibn Ahmad `Abd al-Ghani (b. March 18, 1927, Ghazouet, Algeria - d. Sept. 22, 1996, Algiers, Algeria), interior minister (1974-80) and prime minister (1979-84) of Algeria.

Abdelkader, Safi, finance minister of Chad (1992-93). He was also minister of livestock (1992) and public works and transport (1992).

Abdelkefi, (Mohamed) Fadhel (b. 1970, Tunis, Tunisia), acting finance minister of Tunisia (2017). He was minister of development, investment, and international cooperation (2016-17) and president of the Afek Tounes party (2020-23).

Abdelkerim, Mahamat (b. 1933, Goz-Beida, Chad), Chadian politician. He was secretary of state for defense (1960-62), minister of state for coordination (1962), president of the National Assembly (1962-63), ambassador to Libya (1966-68) and The Sudan (1976-80), minister of stockbreeding, animal product marketing, waters, forests, hunting, and fishing (1971-73), and chargé d'affaires in the United States (1974).


Abdella
Abdella, Ali Said (b. September 1949, Harena, northern Ethiopia [another source says Berdolla, southern Eritrea] - d. Aug. 28, 2005, Asmara, Eritrea), foreign minister of Eritrea (2000-05). In 1965, he received medical and military training in Syria before going to the field with the Eritrean Liberation Front, one of two rebel groups at that time fighting for independence from Ethiopia. In the 1970s and '80s, he became a leading military commander with the other rebel group, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, which became the People's Front for Democracy and Justice. In 1993, he became minister of internal affairs in the provisional government after Eritrea won its 30-year struggle for independence. In 1997-2000 he was minister of trade and industry. Generally regarded as a hawk, most of his overseas trips as foreign minister were to the Middle East (he was a fluent Arabic speaker), though he travelled to Russia in April 2005. His main task, however, was to handle the small Red Sea state's tricky relations with giant neighbour Ethiopia. The two countries, who lost 70,000 people in a 1998-2000 border war, were in political deadlock since 2002, when Ethiopia refused to accept a demarcation decision by an independent boundary commission.

Abdellah, Slaheddine (b. March 25, 1932, Kairouan, Tunisia), Tunisian diplomat. He was chargé d'affaires in Libya (1958), ambassador to Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda (1968-70), Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Syria (1970-73), Egypt (1975-78, 1993), Morocco (1978-84), and the Soviet Union/Russia (1990-92) and permanent representative to the United Nations (1993-97).

Abdellahi, Mohamed Moktar Ould Cheikh, dit Marouf, foreign minister of Mauritania (1970-71). He was also minister of commerce, industry, and mines (1959-61) and planning (1961-63) and ambassador to Spain (1969-70, 1971-...).

Abderaman, Mahamoud (b. 1948, Iriba, Chad - d. [in skirmish] 1980, Abéché, Chad), justice minister of Chad (1976-79). He was also minister of information, tourism, parks, and reserves (1975-76).

Abderremane, original name Ramanetaka (d. 1842), sultan of Mohéli (1830-42).


Abdessalam

Abdessalem
Abdessalam, Belaid, Arabic Bil`ayd `Abd al-Salam (b. July 20, 1928, Dehemcha, near Sétif, Algeria - d. June 27, 2020, Ain Naadja, near Algiers, Algeria), prime minister and economy minister of Algeria (1992-93). He was also minister of industry and power (1965-77) and light industry (1977-79).

Abdessalem, Rafik, Arabic Rafiq `Abd al-Salam (b. 1968?), foreign minister of Tunisia (2011-13).


D.O. Abdi

M.B. Abdi
Abdi, Dah Ould (b. April 18, 1951, Aleg, Mauritania), foreign minister of Mauritania (2001-02). He was also ambassador to France, the United Kingdom, Portugal, and Switzerland (1995-2000), Morocco (2000-01), and Japan (2002-04) and permanent representative to the United Nations (2004-05).

Abdi, Muse Bihi, Somali Muuse Biixi Cabdi (b. 1948, Hargeysa, British Somaliland [now Republic of Somaliland]), interior minister (1993-97) and president (2017- ) of Somaliland.

Abdi Pasha, Ottoman official. He was governor of Ioannina (1877), Shkodra (1882-83), and Kosovo (1883-85).

Abdibekov, Nurmukhambet (Kanapievich) (b. Dec. 21, 1961, Arkalyk, Kustanay oblast, Kazakh S.S.R.), head of Karaganda oblast (2014-17). He was also mayor of Aktobe (2011-12).


Abdic
Abdic, Fikret, byname Babo ("Daddy") (b. Sept. 29, 1939, Donji Vidovec, Bosnia), Bosnian politician. He won the most votes in Bosnia's 1990 election but traded the job of chairman of the Presidency to Alija Izetbegovic in exchange for placing one of his men in charge at the Ministry of Interior. As the prosperous director of a large food processing business in the northeast of the country, Abdic had an independent financial and political base which he took with him when the Bosnian war started. Forming his own autonomous province, Abdic worked with separatist Serbs and Croats against the Bosnian government and its troops. The Abdic rebellion collapsed in 1995 and he and his people fled to Croatia. Most Bosnians viewed him as a traitor. In June 2001 Abdic was accused of war crimes by Bosnia, but according to a cooperation agreement between Croatia and Bosnia, he was tried in Croatia. On July 31, 2002, he was found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Abdikadirov, Tuleubek (Abdikadirovich) (b. Feb. 8, 1940, Kanaka, Tadzhik S.S.R. - d. Oct. 8, 2009), finance minister of Kazakhstan (1990-92).

Abdillahi, Mohamed Barkat (b. Dec. 14, 1947, Djibouti, French Somaliland [now Djibouti]), Djiboutian politician. He was minister of civil service and administrative reform (1997), youth, sports, and culture (1997-98), commerce and industry (1998-2001), employment and national solidarity (2001-05), and justice (2005-11).

Abdishev, Baurzhan (Tuyteyevich) (b. June 3, 1968, Atasu, Karaganda oblast, Kazakh S.S.R.), head of Karaganda oblast (2013-14). He was also mayor of Karaganda (2010-12).

Abdiyeva, Bakhargul (Kurbanmuradovna), Turkmen Bahargül (Gurbanmyradowna) Abdyýewa (b. 1974, Etrek, Krasnovodsk oblast, Turkmen S.S.R. [now Balkan velayat, Turkmenistan]), a deputy prime minister of Turkmenistan (2018-20).


Abdo
Abdo Benítez, Mario (b. Nov. 10, 1971, Asunción, Paraguay), president of Paraguay (2018-23); half-brother of Benigno López. He was also president of the Senate (2015-16).

Abdoh, Djalal (b. Oct. 1, 1910, Tehran, Iran - d. 1992), foreign minister of Iran (1959) and UN administrator of West New Guinea (1962-63). He was also permanent representative to the United Nations (1955-59) and ambassador to India (1965-68) and Italy (1968-72).

Abdol Hossein Mirza, Prince, styled Nuzrat ud-Daula (1885-92) and Farman Farma (from 1892) (b. 1858 - d. Nov. 22, 1939, Tehran, Iran), interior minister (1909, 1910, 1915), war minister (1910-11), and prime minister (1915, 1915-16) of Iran; great-grandson of Fath Ali Qajar.


Abdor Rahman
Abdor Rahman Khan (b. 1844, Kabul, Afghanistan - d. Oct. 3, 1901, Kabul), emir of Afghanistan (1880-1901). He played a prominent role in the fierce contest for power waged by his father Afzal Khan and his uncle A`zam Khan against his cousin Shir `Ali. In 1869 Shir `Ali forced Abdor Rahman into exile. He placed himself under Russian protection at Samarkand. Shir `Ali's death in 1879 furnished Abdor Rahman with an opportunity to recover his kingdom. He returned to Afghanistan in 1880 and was heartily welcomed by his people. He remained in northern Afghanistan until the British negotiated a settlement recognizing him as amir and granting assistance provided that he followed British advice in regard to his external relations. In the following years he consolidated his authority, first defeating Shir `Ali's son Ayyub Khan, who marched from his base in Herat and occupied Kandahar in 1881, later crushing a revolt by the powerful Ghilzai tribe and an unexpected rebellion led by his cousin Ishaq Khan, and finally beating down the resistance of the Hazara tribe (1892). In 1893 agreement was reached on the demarcation of Afghanistan's northwestern border with Russia, the result of talks held near Kabul with a British delegation led by Sir Mortimer Durand, under which Abdor Rahman accepted the Durand line as his frontier. He also reorganized the administrative system of the country, imported machinery for making munitions, introduced manufacture of consumer goods and new agricultural tools, and established Afghanistan's first modern hospital. He held open courts for the receipt of petitioners and the dispensation of justice, but the exercise of his personal authority was often stained by acts of unnecessary cruelty.

Abdou, Ahmed (b. 1936, Mutsamudu, Anjouan, Comoros), finance minister (1972, 1973-75) and prime minister (1996-97) of the Comoros.


M. Abdou
Abdou, Moustadroine (b. June 14, 1969, Sima, Anjouan, Comoros), acting president of the Comoros (2019). He has been vice president in charge of agriculture, fishing, environment, spatial planning, and urbanism (2016-18), minister of energy, agriculture, fishing, and environment (2018-20), and president of the Legislative Assembly (2020- ).

Abdou Madi, Mohamed, byname Mjamaoue (b. 1956, Mjamaoue, Anjouan, Comoros), prime minister of the Comoros (1994). He was also justice minister (1998) and chargé d'affaires in Madagascar (2000-06).

Abdoulaye, Souley (b. 1965), prime minister of Niger (1994-95). He was also minister of commerce, transport, and tourism (1993-94), transport (1996-97), and interior (1997-99).

Abdoulwahab, Mohamed, also spelled Abdouloihabi (b. Dec. 31, 1959, Mdjoiezi-Hambou, Grande Comore, Comoros), president (2007-09) and governor (2009-11) of Grande Comore. He previously served as interior minister (1994-95), foreign minister (1995), and justice minister (1996) of the Comoros.

Abdoun, Amin Magzoub (b. Aug. 22, 1930, Berber, Sudan), Sudanese diplomat. He was ambassador to India (1968-70), the Central African Republic (1970-72), the United Arab Emirates (1972-73), and Czechoslovakia (1973-74) and permanent representative to the United Nations (1986-90).


K. Abdrakhmanov
Abdrakhmanov, Kayrat (Kudaybergenovich) (b. April 21, 1964, Panfilov, Taldy-Kurgan oblast [now in Almaty oblast], Kazakh S.S.R.), foreign minister of Kazakhstan (2016-18). He was also ambassador to Israel (2003-06), Austria (2007-08, 2011-13), and Sweden (2019-20) and permanent representative to the United Nations (2013-16). In 2024 he was appointed ambassador to the Netherlands.

Abdrakhmanov, Shakhym, Turkmen Sahym Abdrahmanow (b. 1963, Yagtyyol, Mary oblast, Turkmen S.S.R.), a deputy prime minister of Turkmenistan (2021-23). He was also chairman of the Turkmengeologiya State Corporation (2017-20) and rector of the International University of Oil and Gas (2020-21).

Abdrakhmanov, Yusup (b. Dec. 28, 1901, Chirkey, Semirechye oblast, Russia [now in Kyrgyzstan] - d. [executed] Nov. 5, 1938, near Tash-Debe, Kirgiz S.S.R.), chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Kirgiz A.S.S.R. (1927-33).

Abdrazyakov, Abdulkhak (Asvyanovich) (b. Sept. 4 [Aug. 22, O.S.], 1915, Staraya Kulatka, Simbirsk province [now in Ulyanovsk oblast], Russia - d. Jan. 10, 1984), chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Tatar A.S.S.R. (1959-66).

Abdukarimov, Isatay (Abdukarimovich) (b. May 15, 1923, Ozgent, Russian S.F.S.R. [now in Kyzylorda oblast, Kazakhstan] - d. April 7, 2001), chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Kazakh S.S.R. (1978-79). He was also first secretary of the party committee of Kzyl-Orda oblast (1972-78).

Abdul, Eugène Robert (b. 1949, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles), administrator of Sint Eustatius (1997-2003).

Abdul Ajib bin Ahmad, Datuk (b. Sept. 13, 1947, Segamat, Johor, Malaya [now in Malaysia] - d. Feb. 3, 2011, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), chief minister of Johor (1982-86).


Abdul Aziz
Abdul Aziz (ibn Abdul Rahman ibn Faysal ibn Turki ibn Abdullah ibn Muhammad Al Saud), Arabic `Abd al-`Aziz ibn `Abd al-Rahman ibn Faysal ibn Turki ibn `Abd Allah ibn Muhammad Al Sa`ud, called Ibn Saud outside Saudi Arabia (b. 1880, Riyadh, Arabia - d. Nov. 9, 1953, al-Ta´if, Saudi Arabia), king of Saudi Arabia (1932-53). When he was still a child, his family was driven into exile by their rivals, the Rashids, and found refuge in Kuwait. From there he set out in 1901 with 40 camelmen in a bold attempt to regain his family's lands. Reaching their old family capital, Riyadh, the little group slipped into the town by night (January 1902). Abdul Aziz lay hidden until the Rashidi governor emerged from the castle; then, rushing forward with his men, he killed him and seized the castle. This exploit roused the former supporters of his dynasty. They rallied to so magnetic a leader, and in two years of raids and skirmishes he reconquered half of central Arabia. During World War I he entered into a treaty with the British (December 1915), accepting protectorate status and agreeing to make war against Ibn Rashid, who sided with the Turks. During 1920-22, he marched against Ibn Rashid and extinguished Rashidi rule, doubling his territory. He then invaded the Hejaz region along the Red Sea. In 1924 it was added to his dominions. In 1932 he formally unified his domains into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. During World War II he preserved a benevolent neutrality toward Britain. In May 1933 he had signed his first agreement with an American oil company. Not until March 1938 did the company strike oil, and oil revenues were limited until about 1950. From then on the oil income increased rapidly, reaching some $200,000,000 in 1952. While much of this went for personal expenditure, he also called in expert commissions to plan the country's development.

Abdul Aziz Abdul Majid, Ungku (b. Aug. 17, 1887 - d. April 29, 1951), chief minister of Johor (1935-47).

Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Majid, Tun (b. March 10, 1908, Kajang, Selangor, Federated Malay States [now in Malaysia] - d. May 11, 1975, Malacca, Malaysia), chief minister of Negeri Sembilan (1952) and Selangor (1955-57) and governor of Malacca (1971-75). He was awarded the titles Dato' in 1958 (becoming Tan Sri in 1966) and Tun in 1972.

Abdul Aziz ibn Majid (ibn Abdul Aziz Al Saud), Saudi prince; son of Majid. He was governor of Madinah (2005-13).

Abdul Aziz ibn Saad (ibn Abdul Aziz Al Saud), Saudi prince; son of Saad. He is governor of Hail (2017- ).

Abdul Aziz ibn Salman (ibn Abdul Aziz Al Saud) (b. 1960), Saudi prince; son of Salman. He is energy minister (2019- ).

Abdul Aziz ibn Saud (b. 1987?), Saudi prince; son of Saud ibn Nayef. He is interior minister (2017- ).

Abdul Aziz (bin) Nik Mat, (Tuan Guru) Dato' (Haji) Nik (b. Jan. 10, 1931, Pulau Melaka, Kelantan [now in Malaysia] - d. Feb. 12, 2015, Kota Bharu, Kelantan), chief minister of Kelantan (1990-2013). He received the title Dato' on March 28, 1995.

Abdul Djalil, Matori (b. July 11, 1942, Salatiga, Netherlands East Indies [now in Jawa Tengah, Indonesia] - d. May 12, 2007, Jakarta, Indonesia), defense minister of Indonesia (2001-04).


Abdul Ghafar
Abdul Ghafar (bin) Baba, Tun (b. Feb. 18, 1925, Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan, Federated Malay States [now in Malaysia] - d. April 23, 2006, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), chief minister of Malacca (1959-67) and deputy prime minister of Malaysia (1986-93). His involvement in politics started at the age of 15 when he joined the Kesatuan Melayu Muda and the Partai Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya in 1948, prior to it being banned by the British. He became a member of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) in 1951. He was the longest-serving Jasin MP through 11 general elections from 1955 to 1999 when he won the Batu Berendam parliamentary constituency. He was UMNO vice president from 1962 to 1987 and secretary-general of the Barisan Nasional coalition from September 1974 until he resigned in October 1993. In the government he was a minister without portfolio (1967-69) and minister of national and rural development (1969-73, 1986-90), rural economic development (1973-74), agriculture and rural development (1974-76), housing and local government (1986-87), and rural development (1990-93). He turned down offers for state awards during his tenure in the government, preferring not to have any titles before his name; it was only after his retirement from high-level politics that he was bestowed an award which came with the title Tun (1995).

Abdul Ghafar (bin Haji) Ismail, Dato (Paduka Haji) (b. Oct. 1, 1952, Kampong Danau, Tutong, Brunei), Bruneian diplomat. He was high commissioner to India and Sri Lanka and ambassador to Nepal (2001-07), high commissioner to Singapore, South Africa, and the Maldives (2007-13), and permanent representative to the United Nations (2013-19).

Abdul Ghaffar, Muhammad (Abdullah) (b. Jan. 15, 1949, Manama, Bahrain), Bahraini diplomat/politician. He was permanent representative to the United Nations (1990-94), ambassador to the United States (1994-2001), Belgium (2008-09), and France and the Vatican (2015-21, 2022-24), and minister of information (2005-07).

Abdul Ghani, Abdul Aziz, Arabic `Abd al-`Aziz ibn `Abd al-Ghani (b. July 4, 1939, Haifan, Taiz governorate, Yemen - d. Aug. 22, 2011, Saudi Arabia), prime minister (1975-80, 1983-90) and vice president (1980-83) of Yemen (Sana) and prime minister of Yemen (1994-97). He was also minister of health (1967-68) and economy (1968-69, 1970-71) and governor of the central bank (1971-75) of Yemen (Sana). He was serving as speaker of the upper house (Shura Council) when he was injured in the June 3, 2011, attack on the presidential palace; like Pres. Ali Abdullah Saleh, he sought medical treatment in Saudi Arabia. He later died of his injuries.

Abdul Ghani (bin) Othman, Tan Sri (b. Nov. 14, 1946, Sungai Mati, Johor, Malaya [now in Malaysia]), chief minister of Johor (1995-2013). He was also Malaysian minister of youth and sports (1993-95). He received the title Tan Sri in 2014.

Abdul Hadi, Awni, until 1952 Awni Bey Abdul Hadi (b. 1889, Nablus, Ottoman Empire [now in Palestine] - d. 1970), foreign minister of Jordan (1956). He was also minister of state (1956).

Abdul Hadi (bin Haji) Awang, Dato' Seri (Tuan Guru Haji) (b. Oct. 20, 1947, Kampung Rusila, Terengganu, Malaya [now in Malaysia]), chief minister of Terengganu (1999-2004). He received the title Dato' Seri on July 19, 2001.


Abdul Halim
Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah ibni al-Marhum Sultan Badlishah, Tuanku (b. Nov. 28, 1927, Anak Bukit, Kedah, Malaya [now in Malaysia] - d. Sept. 11, 2017, Anak Bukit), sultan of Kedah (1958-2017) and yang di-pertuan agong of Malaysia (1970-75, 2011-16).

Abdul Hamid, Agha (b. Aug. 2, 1912, Sialkot, Punjab, India [now in Pakistan] - d. Sept. 21, 1994), acting UN commissioner for Namibia (1970-74). In Pakistan, he was chief minister of Kalat state (1951-52) and the Balluchistan States Union (1952-54) and administrator of Karachi federal territory (1959-61).

Abdul Hamid, Subhi (b. Jan. 31, 1924 - d. Jan. 14?, 2010), foreign minister (1963-64) and interior minister (1964-65) of Iraq.

Abdul Hamid Khan (bin Sakhawat Ali Khan), Tan Sri (b. Nov. 1, 1900, Tapah, Perak, Federated Malay States [now in Malaysia] - d. Oct. 16, 1974, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), Malaysian politician. He was minister of education (1962-64) and welfare services (1964-69) and president of the Dewan Negara (1971-73). He was awarded the title Tan Sri in 1968.

Abdul Hamid (bin) Pawanteh, Tan Sri (b. July 27, 1944, Penang, Straits Settlements [now in Malaysia] - d. Dec. 1, 2022, Arau, Perlis, Malaysia), chief minister of Perlis (1986-95). He was also president of the Dewan Negara of Malaysia (2003-09). He was given the title Tan Sri in 1994.

Abdul Hamid Yusof, Datuk (b. Oct. 17, 1876 - d. Dec. 28, 1934), chief minister of Johor (1931-34).


Abdul Ilah
Abdul Ilah, Arabic in full `Abd al-Ilah ibn `Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Hashimi (b. Nov. 14, 1913, al-Ta´if, Hejaz, Ottoman Empire [now in Saudi Arabia] - d. July 14, 1958, Baghdad, Iraq), regent of Iraq (1939-53). He was the son of the Hashemite king Ali ibn Hussein of the Hejaz (northwestern Arabia), who was driven from Arabia by Abdul Aziz in 1925. Abdul Ilah accompanied his father to Iraq. In 1939, on the death of King Ghazi, he was appointed regent for his three-year-old nephew, Faysal II. Abdul Ilah was an Iraqi nationalist who relied on the British-supported tribal sheikhs as a counterforce against the growing urban nationalist movement. During World War II, Iraq's government was strongly pro-British, until the ardent Anglophobe Rashid Ali al-Gaylani succeeded Nuri al-Said as prime minister. The new prime minister sought close ties with Nazi Germany to release Iraq from British domination. Abdul Ilah and Nuri al-Said both were proponents of close cooperation with Britain and pressed Rashid Ali to resign. In response, the army surrounded the royal palace in Baghdad on April 1, 1941. The regent and his entourage escaped to Habbaniyah, from there to Basra and thence to Amman in Transjordan. Rashid Ali and four generals dubbed the "Golden Square" announced that the temporarily absent regent was deposed. The British quickly intervened by landing forces at Basra on April 19, and the revolt was suppressed by the end of May, and Abdul Ilah reinstated as regent. He maintained strong ties with the West. When King Faysal reached legal age on May 2, 1953, the regent relinquished his functions but remained as the young king's chief adviser and companion and became crown prince. He accompanied Faysal on his state visit to Britain in 1956. He was shot in the royal palace on July 14, 1958, when a revolution broke out in Baghdad during which Faysal was also killed.

Abdul Ilah (ibn Abdul Aziz Al Saud) (b. 1938?, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia), Saudi prince; son of Abdul Aziz. He was governor of al-Qassim (1980-92) and al-Jawf (1998-2002).

Abdul Jalil Muadzam Shah ibni al-Marhum Sultan Sulaiman Shah (b. March 11, 1738 - d. Jan. 29, 1761, Linggi), sultan of Johor (1760-61).

Abdul Jamil bin Abdul Rais, Tan Sri (b. Jan. 14, 1912, Kuala Kangsar, Perak, Federated Malay States [now in Malaysia] - d. July 12, 1994), chief minister of Selangor (1957-59). He was also Malaysian high commissioner to the United Kingdom and ambassador to Ireland (1967-71). He was awarded the title Dato' in 1962, which became Tan Sri in 1966.

Abdul Kadir, Samsuddin (b. Oct. 12, 1970, Ternate, Maluku [now in Maluku Utara], Indonesia), acting governor of Maluku Utara (2024- ).

Abdul Kadir bin Mohamed, Datuk Syed (b. May 5, 1900, Jalan Arab, Bandar Maharani [Muar], Johor [now in Malaysia] - d. June 3, 1960), chief minister of Johor (1952-55).

Abdul Kalam, A.P.J.: see Kalam, A.P.J. Abdul.

Abdul Karim, Amin (b. 1921, Baghdad, Iraq), finance minister of Iraq (1968-74).

Abdul Karim, Ibrahim (b. 1940), finance minister of Bahrain (1976-99).

Abdul Karim, Tarmizi (b. Oct. 24, 1956, Lhoksukon, Aceh, Indonesia), acting governor of Kalimantan Timur (2008), Aceh (2012), and Kalimantan Selatan (2015-16).

Abdul Khaliq, Mustafa (b. 1945), Yemen (Aden) politician. He was minister of justice and waqfs (1971-73) and ambassador to the Soviet Union (1973-74).

Abdul Latif, Abdul Sattar (b. 1926, Baghdad, Iraq), interior minister of Iraq (1967). He was also minister of communications (1963).


Abdul Mahdi

Abdul Malik
Abdul Mahdi, Adel (b. 1942, Baghdad, Iraq), finance minister (2004-05) and prime minister (2018-20) of Iraq. He was also a vice president (2005-11) and oil minister (2014-16).

Abdul Majid (ibn Abdul Aziz Al Saud) (b. 1941? - d. May 5, 2007, United States), Saudi prince; son of Abdul Aziz. He was governor of Tabuk (1980-86), Madinah (1986-99), and Makkah (2000-07).

Abdul Majid, Rajab (b. 1921, Anah, Iraq - d. January 1999, Baghdad, Iraq), deputy prime minister and interior minister of Iraq (1966-67).

Abdul Malik (Said), Maeen (b. 1976, Taiz, Yemen [Sana]), prime minister of Yemen (2018-24; internationally recognized government). He was also minister of public works and roads (2017-18).

Abdul Manap (b. 1908, Muara Talang, Netherlands East Indies [now in Jambi, Indonesia] - d. March 28, 1988, Jakarta, Indonesia), governor of Jambi (1966-68).

Abdul Mejid Hussein (b. Feb. 9, 1944, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia - d. March 29, 2004, Dire Dawa), Ethiopian diplomat. He was permanent representative to the United Nations (2000-04).

Abdul Muhsin (ibn Abdul Aziz Al Saud) (b. 1925 - d. May 10, 1985), Saudi prince; son of Abdul Aziz. He was interior minister (1960-61) and governor of Madinah (1965-85).

Abdul Mumin (bin Pengiran Haji Ismail), Pengiran Dipa Negara Laila Diraja Pengiran Haji (d. May 17, 2008), chief minister of Brunei (1972-81). He was also high commissioner to Malaysia (1989-93) and India (1990-93) and permanent representative to the United Nations (1993-95).

Abdul Rahim bin Abu Bakar, Datuk (b. Feb. 7, 1943, Beserah, near Kuantan, Pahang, Federated Malay States [now in Malaysia] - d. Sept. 24, 2009, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), chief minister of Pahang (1978-81).


Tun Abdul
Rahman
Abdul Rahman (bin Haji) Abbas, Tun (Dato' Seri Haji) (b. April 15, 1938, Kampong Permatang Rambai, near Kepala Batas, Penang, Straits Settlements [now in Malaysia]), head of state of Penang (2001-21). He received the titles of Dato' (July 16, 1982), Dato' Seri (May 1, 2001), and Tun (July 9, 2001).

Abdul Rahman bin Mohamed Yasin, Dato' (b. Nov. 19, 1891 - d. May 24, 1970), Malaysian politician. He was president of the Dewan Negara (1959-68).

Abdul Rahman ibni al-Marhum Yamtuan Muhammad, Tuanku (King) (b. Aug. 24, 1895, Sri Menanti, Negeri Sembilan, Malaya [now Malaysia] - d. April 1, 1960, Kuala Lumpur), paramount ruler of Malaya (1957-60). The son of Tuanku Muhammad, ruler of the state of Negeri Sembilan, Abdul Rahman held a variety of posts in the civil service. On the death of his father in 1933, he succeeded as yang di-pertuan besar of Negeri Sembilan. He attended the coronation of King George VI in London in 1937. After independence from Britain in 1957, he became the first yang di-pertuan agong (head of state) of Malaya, elected by and from the Malay rulers for a five-year term. He died before completion of his term. Abdul Rahman was a retiring and kindly man who learned from his father a deep respect for constitutional law and a sympathy for his people.


Tunku Abdul
Rahman
Abdul Rahman Putra Alhaj (ibni Almarhum Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah), Tunku (Prince) (b. Feb. 8, 1903, Alor Star, Kedah, Malaya [now Malaysia] - d. Dec. 6, 1990, Kuala Lumpur), prime minister of Malaya (1957-59, 1959-63) and of Malaysia (1963-70). The 20th child of Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah of Kedah, he entered the Kedah civil service in 1931. During World War II he quietly worked against the Japanese occupiers. He resigned his post as deputy public prosecutor in the Malayan Federal Legal Department in 1951 to begin a political career. He had been one of the founders of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) in 1945 and was elected its president in 1951. He allied UMNO with the Malayan Chinese Association (1952) and with the Malayan Indian Congress (1955). His Alliance Party won an overwhelming majority in the elections of 1955, and he became chief minister and home minister. In negotiations in London in January 1956 he secured the pledge of independence by August 1957. When Malaya became independent, he became its first prime minister and foreign minister, and he continued in those posts when the larger federation of Malaysia was formed in 1963. Violence between the Chinese and the Malays broke out in 1969 because of Malay fears after an election in which the Chinese had made gains; at least 200 persons were killed. Parliamentary government was suspended, and Abdul Rahman relinquished his post as prime minister in September 1970. In 1970-73 he was the first secretary-general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. His interest in his country remained, and he lamented over the years that it had not become all that he had hoped it would. In 1988 he came out of retirement to speak out against Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad, accusing him of having turned Malaysia into a police state. He received the titles Dato' Seri (1975) and Datuk Seri Utama (1985).

Abdul Rahman (bin) Yakub, Tun (Haji) (b. Jan. 3, 1928, Kampung Jepak village, near Bintulu, Sarawak [now in Malaysia] - d. Jan. 9, 2015, Kuching, Sarawak), chief minister (1970-81) and head of state (1981-85) of Sarawak. He received the titles Datuk Seri Panglima (1970), Dato' (1971), Dato' Seri (1980), and Tun (1982).

Abdul Rashid bin Abdul Rahman, Datuk (b. 1938? - d. June 19, 2018, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia), chief minister of Pahang (1981-82).


Abdul Razak
Abdul Razak bin Hussein, Tun (Haji) (b. March 11, 1922, Pekan, Pahang, Federated Malay States [now Malaysia] - d. Jan. 14, 1976, London, England), prime minister (1959, 1970-76) and foreign minister (1970-75) of Malaysia; son-in-law of Tan Sri Mohamed Noah Omar. He was a guerrilla fighter against Japanese occupation forces in World War II. He joined the civil service in 1950, entered politics in 1955, served as chief minister of Pahang (1955) and as education minister (1956-57), and was a key architect and mainspring of gaining Malaya's independence from Britain in 1957. He was deputy prime minister (1957-59, 1959-70) under Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, also minister of defense (1957-73, 1974-76), rural development (1959-69), home affairs (1967-69), and finance (1969-70); in 1959 he was briefly prime minister when Abdul Rahman resigned to devote himself full-time to campaigning ahead of elections. In 1966 he was the key negotiator in ending Malaysia's war with Indonesia. Appointed head of the National Operations Council set up with emergency powers in 1969, he steered the country through that year's violent disturbances between Malays and Chinese. In 1970 he succeeded Abdul Rahman as prime minister. He eased Malaysia from its former staunch pro-Western position toward nonalignment, and in 1974 established diplomatic relations with mainland China. He worked to help the rural, poorer Malays catch up with the Chinese, who dominated the Malaysian economy. Many Malaysians called him the "father of development" because of his drive for improved economic well-being. A touchstone of his policies was international economic cooperation. On Aug. 31, 1959, he was awarded the Seri Maharaja Mangku Negara, one of Malaya's (and Malaysia's) highest honours, which carries the title of Tun. He also held the titles of Orang Kaya Indera Shahbandar (Nov. 1, 1950), Dato' Seri (1964), and Datuk Seri Panglima (May 1, 1971). He died in office.

Abdul Taib (bin) Mahmud, Tun (Haji) (b. May 21, 1936, Miri, Sarawak [now in Malaysia] - d. Feb. 21, 2024, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), chief minister (1981-2014) and head of state (2014-24) of Sarawak; nephew of Tun Abdul Rahman Yakub. He received the titles Datuk (1972), Datuk Amar (1974), Datuk Patinggi (1981), Datuk Seri (1988), Tan Sri (1989), Dato' Seri (1991), Pehin Sri (2003), and Tun (2014). He was Malaysian minister of primary industries (1972-74, 1977-78), general planning and socioeconomic research (1974-77), information and special functions (1975-77), defense (1978-80), and the federal territory (1980-81). He was deputy president (1973-75, 1977-81) and president (1975-77 [acting], 1981-2014) of the Sarawak-based Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu, member of the Barisan Nasional coalition. In 2014 he retired as the longest-serving chief minister in Malaysia, having been elected for eight consecutive terms. He was said to have personally accumulated some U.S.$15 billion, partly through ownership of shipping and construction companies and control of Sarawak's logging industry and mineral resources. In 2009 a report claimed that the state had lost 90% of its rainforest. In 2013 the anti-corruption commission (MACC) conducted an investigation into multiple allegations of graft involving Taib, but nothing came of it.

Abdul Wahhab, Samir Muhammad (b. 1945, Baghdad, Iraq), interior minister of Iraq (1987-91). He was also mayor of Baghdad (1979-82) and minister of higher education (1985-87).


Abdul Wakil

Abdulatipov
Abdul Wakil, Idris (b. April 10, 1925, Makunduchi village, Zanzibar [now in Tanzania] - d. March 15, 2000, Zanzibar), president of Zanzibar and second vice president of Tanzania (1985-90). He was Tanzania's minister of information and tourism (1964-67) and ambassador to West Germany (1967-69), the Netherlands (1970-73), and Guinea (1974-76) and speaker of the House of Representatives of Zanzibar (1980-85).

Abdulah, Frank (Owen) (b. Nov. 8, 1928, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago), Trinidad and Tobago diplomat. He was permanent representative to the United Nations (1975-82) and high commissioner to the United Kingdom (1983-85).

Abdulatipov, Ramazan (Gadzhimuradovich) (b. Aug. 4, 1946, Dagestan A.S.S.R., Russian S.F.S.R.), president/head of the republic of Dagestan (2013-17). He was also a Russian deputy prime minister (1997-98), minister of ethnic policy (1998-99), and ambassador to Tajikistan (2005-09).


Abdulayev

Abdulaziz
Abdulayev, Magomed (Imranovich) (b. June 18, 1961, Gamsutl, Dagestan A.S.S.R., Russian S.F.S.R. - d. [road accident] Jan. 5, 2023, Makhachkala, Dagestan, Russia), prime minister of Dagestan (2010-13).

Abdulaziz, Mohamed (Imhamid) (b. 1952?), foreign minister of Libya (2012-14).

Abdulgani, Roeslan (b. Nov. 24, 1914, Surabaya, Netherlands East Indies [now in Jawa Timur, Indonesia] - d. June 29, 2005, Jakarta, Indonesia), foreign minister of Indonesia (1956-57). At age 17 he joined the Indonesia Muda (Young Indonesia) pro-independence movement that sought to bring to an end 350 years of Dutch colonial rule. During Indonesia's war of independence from 1945 to 1949, he was badly wounded and lost the use of his right hand when his unit was strafed by Dutch fighters. After the war, he served in the foreign ministry and was tasked in 1955 by President Sukarno to organize the first gathering of 29 newly independent nations from Asia and Africa. This later grew into the Non-Aligned Movement, which tried to steer a neutral course between the Eastern and Western blocs during the Cold War. Abdulgani was later named foreign minister, also was minister of information (1962-64), a deputy chief minister (1962-63), and a deputy prime minister (1966), served as permanent representative to the United Nations (1967-71), and was a member of the presidential advisory team until 1993.

Abdülhamid Ferid Pasha (b. 1815, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey] - d. March 1875), Ottoman official. He was minister of waqfs (1863-65, 1866-68), privy purse (1871, 1871-76), and navy (1871, 1875).

Abdülhamit I (b. March 20, 1725 - d. April 7, 1789), ruler of the Ottoman Empire (1774-89); brother of Mustafa III.


Abdülhamit II
Abdülhamit II (b. Sept. 21, 1842, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey] - d. Feb. 10, 1918, Constantinople), ruler of the Ottoman Empire (1876-1909). The second son of Sultan Abdülmecit I, he came to the throne when his brother Murat V was declared insane on Aug. 31, 1876. On Dec. 23, 1876, he promulgated the first comprehensive Ottoman constitution (and, except for a Tunisian organic law of 1861, the first in any Islamic country). War with Russia broke out in April 1877 and ended in defeat for the Ottomans. According to the Treaty of San Stefano (March 3, 1878), the Ottomans were to recognize the independence of Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro and cede territory to them, concede autonomy to a new state of Bulgaria, and cede territory to Russia. The parliament summoned in March 1877 was dissolved, and the constitution suspended, in February 1878. The Congress of Berlin (June-July 1878) concluded when England had invaded Cyprus and Austria had taken Bosnia and Herzegovina, whilst France occupied Tunisia in 1881. England took power in Egypt and the province of Eastern Rumelia was subjected to Bulgaria in 1885. The Ottoman territories in Europe were reduced to Macedonia, Albania, and Thrace. Abdülhamit turned for support to the Germans, permitting them in return to build the Baghdad Railway (1899). Eventually, the suppression of the Armenian revolt (1894) and the turmoil in Crete, which led to war with Greece in 1897, once more resulted in intervention by the European powers. The most far-reaching of his reforms were in education. Discontent with his absolutist rule led to the military revolution of the "Young Turks" in 1908, forcing Abdülhamit to restore the constitution. After a short-lived reactionary uprising (April 1909), he was deposed and kept in confinement until his death.

Abdülkadir Kemali Pasha (d. 1892), Ottoman official. He was governor of Kosovo (1890-91) and Mosul (1891-92).

Abdulkarim, Yahaya (b. Aug. 21, 1944), governor of Sokoto (1992-93).

Abdülkerim Nadir Pasha, Çirpanli (b. 1807, Zagra, Ottoman Empire [now Stara Zagora, Bulgaria] - d. 1883, Rhodes island, Ottoman Empire [now in Greece]), war minister of the Ottoman Empire (1865-66, 1874-75, 1876). He was also governor of Baghdad (1849-50), Diyarbakir (1851), and Rumelia (1857-59, 1861-64) and navy minister (1876).


Abdulla
Abdulla, Abdul Samad (b. March 10, 1946 - d. Aug. 25, 2013, Singapore), foreign minister of Maldives (2012-13). He was also high commissioner to Bangladesh (2008-09).

Abdulla, Rahmatalla (b. 1922), Sudanese diplomat/politician. He was ambassador to India (1956-60), Nigeria (1960-61), France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Spain (1962-64, 1968-70), and Zaire (1970-71), minister of national education (1964-65), and permanent representative to the United Nations (1972-74).


Abdullah
Abdullah, Arabic in full `Abd Allah ibn `Abd al-`Aziz Al Sa`ud (b. 1924, Riyadh, Nejd [now in Saudi Arabia] - d. Jan. 23, 2015, Riyadh), king of Saudi Arabia (2005-15); son of Abdul Aziz; half-brother of Fahd. He supported Crown Prince Faysal during Faysal's power struggle with King Saud and was rewarded in 1962 with command of the National Guard, a force nearly as powerful as the Saudi army. He was appointed second deputy minister in 1975 by King Khalid after Faysal's assassination and was named crown prince and first deputy prime minister in 1982 by King Fahd. Following the 1995 stroke that afflicted King Fahd, Abdullah, who continued to command the National Guard, began running the daily affairs of the country. He formally served as regent for a short period in 1996. Though Abdullah was perceived as committed to preserving Arab interests, his goal was also to maintain good relations with the West, especially the U.S. Though Abdullah condemned the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by militant Islamists (most of them Saudi nationals) in the U.S., Saudi-U.S. relations reached a low ebb in the first half of 2002. In a move to improve relations, Abdullah launched his proposal for a Saudi peace initiative. It was adopted during the Arab summit meeting held in Beirut, Lebanon, on March 27-28, 2002, as an Arab peace initiative. The plan called upon Israel to withdraw from the occupied Palestinian and Syrian lands and in return promised a full Arab normalization of relations with the Jewish state. However, he publicly refused to support the U.S. attack on Iraq or the use of Saudi military facilities for this purpose. Abdullah is seen as part of the "reformers" camp in Saudi Arabia. In September 2002 he called on the religious establishment to be less rigid in order to better serve the populace. He introduced the kingdom's first elections ever - municipal polls held in early 2005. He succeeded as king on Fahd's death later that year.


Abdullah I
Abdullah I, Arabic in full `Abd Allah ibn al-Husayn al-Hashimi (b. 1882, Mecca, Ottoman Empire [now in Saudi Arabia] - d. July 20, 1951, Jerusalem), king of Jordan (1946-51). He was the second son of Hussein ibn Ali, sharif of Mecca. Between 1908 and the outbreak of World War I, he represented Mecca in the Ottoman parliament. Early in 1914 he joined the nationalist Arab movement, and in 1915-16 he played a leading role in clandestine negotiations between the British in Egypt and his father that led to the proclamation (June 10, 1916) of the Arab revolt against the Ottomans. With dubious legality Abdullah was proclaimed king of Iraq on March 8, 1920, by the so-called Iraqi Congress in Damascus. His brother Faysal was proclaimed king of Syria. When the French refused to recognize Faysal's claim, he became king of Iraq instead of Abdullah. Abdullah raised an army, seized control of a railroad leading across Transjordan, and prepared to attack Syria and carve out a realm for himself there. Instead he was persuaded by the British to accept the title of emir of Transjordan, which was gradually separated from the Palestine mandate. The creation of a united Arab kingdom encompassing Syria, Iraq, and Transjordan was Abdullah's ambition. During World War II, he remained a steadfast ally of Britain, and his army - the Arab Legion - took part in the British occupation of Syria and Iraq in 1941. In 1946 Transjordan became independent, and he was crowned king. After the State of Israel was proclaimed, he sent his legion across the border on May 15, 1948, seizing the West Bank and capturing Old Jerusalem. He resisted an Arab League-sponsored government for the Arab-controlled sections of Palestine, and in April 1950 he incorporated them into the kingdom of Jordan. He was assassinated by a Palestinian nationalist.


Abdullah II
Abdullah II, Arabic in full `Abd Allah ibn al-Husayn ibn Talal ibn `Abd Allah al-Hashimi (b. Jan. 30, 1962, Amman, Jordan), king of Jordan (1999- ). He is the son of King Hussein from his second marriage, to Britain's Toni Gardiner (Muna al-Hussein). At the age of 4, he was sent to St. Edmund's School in Surrey, England, but he completed his high school education in the United States. He later took one-year courses in international affairs at Oxford University in England and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Following in his father's footsteps, he graduated (1980) from the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, England. Abdullah served in the British Armed Forces and subsequently served in Jordan's Armed Forces in the 41st and 90th armoured brigades. He was appointed deputy commander of the country's elite Special Forces in 1993 and assumed command a year later. His unit helped quell riots in southern Jordan in 1996 over a sharp increase in bread prices. The prince often was seen in public as a bodyguard for King Hussein. In 1998, Abdullah led his commandos in storming the hideout of gunmen who had killed eight people, including the chargé d'affaires of the Iraqi embassy in Jordan. As a reward, Hussein promoted him to major general. He was named crown prince shortly after he was born, but the king transferred the title to his own brother, Hassan, in April 1965 when he needed help managing the affairs of the state amid regional political turmoil. Abdullah was again given the title in January 1999 in a move that underlined the king's desire to keep the throne in the hands of his sons. In June 1993, Abdullah married Princess Rania, who is a descendant of the wealthy al-Yassin family from the West Bank town of Tulkarem. They have a son, Hussein (b. 1994), and two daughters, Iman (b. 1996) and Salma (b. 2000).


A. Abdullah
Abdullah, Abdullah1 (b. September 1960, Kabul, Afghanistan), foreign minister (2001-06), chief executive (2014-20), and self-proclaimed president (2020) of Afghanistan. He was a presidential candidate in 2009, 2014, and 2019.
1 Originally he had just one name, Abdullah, but by 1997 he had started using Abdullah Abdullah.

Abdullah, Ahmed Suleiman (Somali Axmed Suleymaan Cabdalla), byname Dafle, interior minister of Somalia (1984-87, 1989-90); son-in-law of Muhammad Siad Barre. He was also chief of the National Security Service (1980-81), minister of planning (1982-84) and security and social affairs (1987-89), and a deputy prime minister (1987-89).


F. Abdullah
Abdullah, Farooq (b. Oct. 21, 1936, Soura, Kashmir), Kashmiri politician. Leader of the main pro-India party, the National Conference, Abdullah comes from the family which has held sway over Kashmiri politics since the region acceded to India in 1947. His father, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, was a dominant force in the region for half a century, serving first as state prime minister, then later as chief minister before his death in 1982. Farooq was chief minister in 1982-84 and again from 1986 to 1990 when a separatist rebellion drove him from power. A golf enthusiast, he has been criticized for spending time overseas, especially in London. But polls showed the tall, silver-haired Abdullah was by far the best-known figure in state politics and he was chief minister again in 1996-2002. A moderate accused by critics of being indecisive, he advocated the restoration of political autonomy which his party claimed New Delhi had gradually usurped since 1952.


H.S. Abdullah
Abdullah, Hisham Sharaf (b. 1956, Taiz, Yemen), foreign minister of Yemen (2016-24). He was also minister of industry and trade (2011), oil and minerals (2011-12), and higher education and scientific research (2012-15).

Abdullah, Ismeth (b. Sept. 29, 1946, Cirebon, Jawa Barat, Indonesia), acting governor (2004-05) and governor (2005-10) of Kepulauan Riau.


S.M. Abdullah
Abdullah, Sheikh Mohammad, byname Lion of Kashmir (b. Dec. 5, 1905, Soura, near Srinagar, Kashmir - d. Sept. 8, 1982, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir), prime minister (1948-53) and chief minister (1975-77, 1977-82) of Jammu and Kashmir. When on July 13, 1931, the army fired on a demonstration of Muslim protesters and 14 demonstrators were killed, Abdullah immediately organized a group of young Muslim intellectuals called the Muslim (later National) Conference. At first it served as little more than an agency through which skilled Muslims tried to get jobs. But soon they realized that political action was the only means to their end. Muslims were a majority in Kashmir but were discriminated against by the Hindu ruling house. In 1947, when India and Pakistan both sought Kashmir at the time of independence from Britain, Abdullah turned to India after an attack by Muslim tribesmen from Pakistan. Despite his early support for Indian leader Jawaharlal Nehru, in 1953 he was dismissed as prime minister and imprisoned. The state's population had become restless and was demanding accession to Pakistan. Abdullah began to espouse independence and accused India of reneging on its promise to hold a plebiscite on the state's future. He spent the next 15 years in and out of jail, under house arrest, or in exile. From 1968 his Plebiscite Front gained some successes but lost to the Congress party in 1972 elections. He came to a rapprochement with Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi and returned to political office as chief minister in 1975, a post he held until his death. His government was accused of corruption but, though his popularity waned, he was still admired for his outstanding contribution to the cause of Kashmiri national rights.


O. Abdullah
Abdullah, Omar (b. March 10, 1970, Rochford, Essex, England), chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir (2009-15, 2024- ); son of Farooq Abdullah.

Abdullah, (Sayyid) Waheed (d. [executed] May 1978), foreign minister of Afghanistan (1977-78).


Abdullah A.B.
Abdullah (bin Haji) Ahmad Badawi, Tun (b. Nov. 26, 1939, Kepala Batas, Penang, Straits Settlements [now in Malaysia]), prime minister of Malaysia (2003-09). The grandson of a respected Islamic leader and son of a United Malays National Organization (UMNO) stalwart, Abdullah joined Malaysia's civil service in 1964. In 1978, he was elected as a member of parliament the same year. He began his career in the government as parliamentary secretary in the federal territory ministry. He was subsequently promoted to deputy in the same ministry in 1980. His rise began a year later when he was appointed UMNO liaison chief for Penang state. He joined the ranks of the UMNO Supreme Council elite the same year and was given the portfolio of minister in the Prime Minister's Department. In May 1984, he was elected UMNO vice president and was appointed education minister two months later. He went on to become defense minister in 1986. He was dropped from the cabinet in 1987 after supporting Razaleigh Hamzah's challenge to Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad's UMNO presidency that split the party in two. But Abdullah returned to the UMNO fold the following year, professing his loyalty to Mahathir, and was reelected UMNO vice president in 1990 and named foreign minister in 1991. He earned the tag of "Mr. Clean" for his straightforward approach to politics. He saw mixed fortunes in 1993 as he was again appointed member of the UMNO Supreme Council but dethroned as party vice president by a team closely aligned with Anwar Ibrahim and which included Najib Tun Razak. Abdullah regained the vice-presidency in 1996. In January 1999 Mahathir made him deputy prime minister and home affairs minister in a clear signal of support. In June 2002 he was designated to succeed Mahathir. After becoming prime minister, he also took over the finance ministry from Mahathir (until 2008), and kept the home portfolio (until 2004); in 2008-09 he held again the defense portfolio. He received the titles Dato' (July 16, 1981), Dato' Seri (July 12, 1997), Datuk (Sept. 17, 1999), Datuk Seri Panglima (1999), Dato' Seri Utama (July 19, 2000), Dato' Seri DiRaja (May 17, 2001), Datuk Patinggi (July 22, 2003), Datuk Seri Utama (Oct. 12, 2004), and Tun (April 3, 2009).

Abdullah Al Faysal, Arabic in full `Abd Allah ibn Faysal ibn `Abd al-`Aziz Al Sa`ud (b. 1922 - d. May 8, 2007), interior minister of Saudi Arabia (1951-59); son of Faysal; grandson of Abdul Aziz. He was also minister of health (1951-54).

Abdullah Al Salim Al Sabah, Sheikh (b. 1895 - d. Nov. 24, 1965, Kuwait, Kuwait), ruler/emir of Kuwait (1950-65).

Abdullah bin Tarmugi (b. Aug. 25, 1944, Singapore), Singaporean politician. He was speaker of parliament (2002-11).

Abdullah Galib Pasha (b. March 5, 1829, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey] - d. Jan. 12, 1905), finance minister of the Ottoman Empire (1872, 1876-77). He was also governor of Trebizond (1872), Bursa (1873, 1878-79), Aleppo (1879), Kastamonu (1879-81), Salonika (1882-85, 1886-91), and the Archipelago (1885-86) and minister of waqfs (1891-1904).

Abdullah ibn Faysal (ibn Turki Al Saud) (b. 1951, Ta´if, Saudi Arabia - d. Feb. 18, 2019), Saudi prince. He was ambassador to the United States (2016-17).

Abdullah ibn Khalid ibn Sultan (ibn Abdul Aziz Al Saud) (b. 1988), Saudi prince; great-grandson of Abdul Aziz. He has been ambassador to Austria (2019- ) and Germany (2023- ).


Abdullah ibn K.
Abdullah ibn Khalifa Al Thani, Sheikh, Arabic Shaykh `Abd Allah ibn Khalifa Al Thani (b. Dec. 25, 1959, Doha, Qatar), interior minister (1989-2001), deputy prime minister (1995-96), and prime minister (1996-2007) of Qatar; son of Sheikh Khalifa ibn Hamad Al Thani; brother of Sheikh Hamad ibn Khalifa Al Thani.


Abdullah ibn N.
Abdullah ibn Nasser ibn Khalifa Al Thani, Sheikh, Arabic Shaykh `Abd Allah ibn Nasir ibn Khalifa Al Thani (b. 1969?), prime minister and interior minister of Qatar (2013-20).

Abdullah ibn Qasim Al Thani, Sheikh, Arabic Shaykh `Abd Allah ibn Qasim Al Thani (b. c. 1876, Doha, Qatar - d. April 27, 1957, Doha), emir of Qatar (1913-49); son of Sheikh Qasim ibn Muhammad Al Thani.

Abdullah ibn Yahya, Arabic in full `Abd Allah ibn al-Mutawakkil `ala´ Allah Yahya Sayf al-Islam (b. 1912 - d. April 13, 1955, Hajjah, northwest Yemen), foreign minister of Yemen (1948-55). On March 31, 1955, he started a rebellion against his brother Ahmad ash-Shams and proclaimed himself imam; he was defeated and captured on April 5 and beheaded for his act of treason on April 13.

Abdullah Jaafar (b. 1875 - d. April 28, 1934), chief minister of Johor (1923-28).

Abdullah Pasha, (Bostancibasi Deli), also called Hamdullah Pasha (b. Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey] - d. 1823, Izmit, Ottoman Empire [now in Turkey]), grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire (1822-23). He was also navy minister (1819-21).


Abdullah R.
Abdullah Riayatuddin al-Mustafa Billah Shah ibni al-Marhum Sultan Ahmad Shah, Tuanku (b. July 30, 1959, Pekan, Pahang, Malaya [now in Malaysia]), sultan of Pahang (2019- ) and yang di-pertuan agong of Malaysia (2019-24).

Abdullahi, Ahmed (b. Aug. 22, 1945, Freetown, Sierra Leone), governor of Kwara (1986-87).

Abdullahi, Hamza (b. March 2, 1945, Hadejia [now in Kano state], Nigeria - d. Jan. 3, 2019, Germany), governor of Kano (1984-85) and minister of the Federal Capital Territory (1986-89). He was also Nigerian minister of works and housing (1985-86).

Abdullahi, Hussaini (b. March 2, 1939 - d. July 9, 2019, Abuja, Nigeria), governor of Bendel (1976-78).

Abdullajanov, Abdumalik (Abdullayevich), also spelled Abdumalik Abdullojonov (b. Jan. 1, 1949, Leninabad, Tadzhik S.S.R. [now Khujand, Tajikistan]), prime minister of Tajikistan (1992-93). He was also minister of grain production (1987-92), first deputy prime minister and ambassador to Russia (1993-94), and a presidential candidate (1994). In 1997 he was accused in an assassination attempt against Pres. Emomali Rakhmonov; he emigrated to the United States in 1998.

Abdüllatif Subhi Pasha (b. Nov. 11, 1818, Tripolitsa, Ottoman Empire [now Tripoli, Greece] - d. Jan. 17, 1886, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey]), finance minister of the Ottoman Empire (1880-81). He was also minister of waqfs (1861, 1878, 1879-80, 1880-82, 1885-86), education (1867-68, 1878), and commerce and agriculture (1882-85) and governor of Syria (1871-73).

Abdullayev, Ilyas (Kerim ogly) (b. March 23 [March 10, O.S.], 1913, Akstafa, Yelizavetpol province, Russia [now in Azerbaijan] - d. April 30, 1985, Baku, Azerbaijan S.S.R.), chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan S.S.R. (1958-59). He was also a deputy premier (1948-50, 1953-54), agriculture minister (1950-54), and first deputy premier (1954-58).

Abdullayev, Kalyk (Abdullayevich) (b. June 28, 1942, Kaskasu, Yuzhno-Kazakhstan oblast, Kazakh S.S.R. [now Turkestan oblast, Kazakhstan]), head of Yuzhno-Kazakhstan oblast (1997-99). He was also deputy premier (1986-90, 1991-92), first deputy premier (1990-91), and chairman of the State Planning Committee (1986-91) of the Kazakh S.S.R./Kazakhstan.

Abdullayev, Muzamil (Imranovich), Azeri Müzamil (Imran oglu) Abdullayev (b. 1941 - d. June 17, 2022), Azerbaijani politician. He was first deputy premier and chairman of the State Committee for the Agro-Industrial Complex of the Azerbaijan S.S.R. (1988-91) and minister of agriculture and food (1991-93, 1993-94). In 1996 he was sentenced to death in relation to an alleged coup plot in 1994; his sentence was later commuted to 15 years' imprisonment, and he was pardoned in 1999.

Abdullayev, Nadzhmidin (Pashayevich) (b. Nov. 17, 1917, Kanibadam, Fergana oblast, Russia - d. April 24, 1982, Dushanbe, Tadzhik S.S.R.), first secretary of the Communist Party committee of Gorno-Badakhshan autonomous oblast (1956-61). He was also first secretary of the party committee of Leninabad oblast (1961-62).

Abdullayev, Seyfullo (b. 1899 - d. [executed] 1938), chairman of the Revolutionary Committee (1924-25) and Executive Committee (1925-26) of Pamir okrug/Gorny Badakhshan. He was also people's commissar of agriculture (1931-32, 1934-36) and workers' and peasants' inspection (1932-34) of the Tadzhik S.S.R.

Abdulle, Muse Hassan (b. 1940?), Somali politician. He was interim speaker of parliament and acting president (2012) and ambassador to Italy (2013-16).


Abdulmuslimov
Abdulmuslimov, Abdulmuslim (Mukhudinovich) (b. April 1, 1960, Gertma, Dagestan A.S.S.R., Russian S.F.S.R.), prime minister of Dagestan (2022- ).

Abdulvasiyev, Muminsho (Abdulvasiyevich) (b. July 21, 1933, Shidz, Gorny Badakhshan, Tadzhik S.S.R. - d. [accident] Nov. 21, 1992), chairman of the Executive Committee of Gorno-Badakhshan autonomous oblast (1978-88).

Abdurakhmanov, Abdudzhabar (Abdurakhmanovich) (b. 1907, Tashkent, Russia [now in Uzbekistan] - d. Oct. 3, 1975, Moscow, Russian S.F.S.R.), chairman of the Council of People's Commissars/Ministers of the Uzbek S.S.R. (1938-50). He was also chairman of the State Planning Committee (1954-56).

Abdurazzakov, Bakhodir (Abbasovich) (b. 1927), foreign minister of the Uzbek S.S.R. (1980-85). He was also Soviet ambassador to Somalia (1985-89).

Abdurazzakov, Ubaydulla (Abbasovich) (b. 1932, Tashkent, Uzbek S.S.R.), foreign minister of Uzbekistan (1992-93). He was also chairman of the Executive Committee of Namangan oblast (1974-78), chairman of the State Committee for the Press (1990-92), and ambassador to Turkey (1993-94).

Abdurrahman Hasan Bey (b. Sept. 5, 1849, Cairo, Egypt - d. 1927), Ottoman official; son of Abdurrahman Sami Pasha. He was governor of Mamuretülaziz (1903-05) and Basra (1906-08).

Abdurrahman Nafiz Pasha (d. 1853), finance minister of the Ottoman Empire (1838-39, 1845-47, 1848-49, 1849-50, 1851-52). He was also governor of Adrianople (1839-40) and minister of waqfs (1851).

Abdurrahman Sami Pasha (b. 1792, Tripolitsa, Ottoman Empire [now Tripoli, Greece] - d. May 23, 1881, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey]), Ottoman official. He was governor of Trikala (1849-51), Bosnia (1851), Trebizond (1851-52), Vidin (1852-55), Adrianople (1855-56), and Crete (1857-59) and minister of education (1857-61).

Abdurrahman Seref Efendi (b. Aug. 6, 1853, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey] - d. Feb. 18, 1925, Ankara, Turkey), Ottoman official. He was also minister of education (1908-09, 1909, 1911-12, 1920), waqfs (1918), posts and telegraphs (1918), and commerce (1920) and head of the Council of State (1919-20).

Abdus Sattar, Pirzada (b. July 4, 1907, Sukkur, India [now in Pakistan] - d. Aug. 24, 1974), chief minister of Sindh (1953-54).

Abdygaliyev, Berik (Bakytovich), Kazakh Berik Abdygaliuly (b. Sept. 18, 1971, Terisakkan village, Karaganda oblast, Kazakh S.S.R. [now in Ulytau oblast, Kazakhstan]), head of Ulytau oblast (2022-24). He was also mayor of Dzhezkazgan (2010-12) and Arkalyk (2012-13).

Abdykalikova, Gulshara (Naushayevna) (b. May 15, 1965, Solo-Tyube, Kzyl-Orda oblast, Kazakh S.S.R.), head of Kyzylorda oblast (2020-22). She was also Kazakh minister of labour and social protection (2009-12), a deputy prime minister (2013-14, 2019), and secretary of state (2014-19).


Abdyldayev
Abdyldayev, Erlan (Bekeshovich) (b. July 21, 1966, Alma-Ata, Kazakh S.S.R. [now Almaty, Kazakhstan]), foreign minister of Kyrgyzstan (2012-18). He has also been ambassador to China, Mongolia, Singapore, and Thailand (2001-05), Germany (2020-22), the Vatican (2021-22), and Tajikistan (2022- ).

Abe, (Christopher) Columbus (d. July 1997), finance minister of Solomon Islands (1989-93, 1994-96).

Abe, Genki (b. Feb. 14, 1894, Yamaguchi prefecture, Japan - d. Oct. 6, 1989), home affairs minister of Japan (1945).

Abe, Isao (b. Nov. 22, 1914, Tokyo, Japan), Japanese diplomat. He was ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg (1971-76) and permanent representative to the United Nations (1976-79).


N. Abe
Abe, Nobuyuki (b. Nov. 24, 1875, Ishikawa prefecture, Japan - d. Sept. 7, 1953, Tokyo, Japan), prime minister of Japan (1939-40) and governor-general of Korea (1944-45). He remained aloof from politics until after his retirement from the army in 1936 with the rank of general. In August 1939 he accepted the emperor's command to form a government following the resignation of Baron Kiichiro Hiranuma. His qualities for the post seemed to be purely negative, and his main commendation that he was in a position to work with the army, which was then predominant. Though he had never seen active service, he had a thorough knowledge of the workings of the military machine. He pursued a policy of seeking settlement with both the Soviet Union and the western countries, while trying to create a puppet regime in China. The policy led to the signing of an armistice with the Soviet Union bringing to an end a long series of conflicts along the borders of Manchukuo and Mongolia, and also to the opening of negotiations with the United States for the resurrection of a trade treaty. In December 1939 he was criticized for the rising prices of rice and fuel. Early in 1940, 276 out of 448 members of parliament signed a declaration of lack of confidence in his administration. The army chiefs, though they would have had the power if they had wished, were not prepared to shoulder the burden of an unpopular ministry, feeling that their "national policy" in China needed the support of a government with parliamentary backing. Hence the administration of his successor, Adm. Mitsumasa Yonai, included two party men. At the end of World War II Abe was governor-general of Korea and he surrendered the territory to the Allies in September 1945.

Abe, Shintaro (b. April 29, 1924, Yamaguchi prefecture, Japan - d. May 15, 1991, Tokyo, Japan), Japanese politician; great-grandson of Yoshimasa Oshima. At one time he had ambitions to become a kamikaze pilot, but World War II ended before he could be trained. He launched his political career in 1956 by becoming private secretary to Nobusuke Kishi, who was his father-in-law and the foreign minister; Abe remained in the post when Kishi became prime minister in 1957. In 1958 Abe was elected to the first of 11 terms in the House of Representatives. The "prince of politics" held a succession of cabinet posts - minister of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries (1974-76); chief cabinet secretary (1977-78); minister of international trade and industry (1981-82); and foreign minister (1982-86; one of the longest tenures in that post in Japan). He twice lost in bids to win the presidency of the LDP, first to Yasuhiro Nakasone in 1982 and then to Noboru Takeshita in 1987; a victory would have automatically given him the prime ministership. Abe was a top contender to succeed Nakasone as prime minister in 1987 until he stepped aside for Takeshita. He was named secretary-general of the LDP in 1987, but in 1988 his chance for becoming prime minister was once again thwarted when his name became associated with the Recruit Cosmos insider-trading stock scandal, which brought down Takeshita and forced Abe to resign as secretary-general in December 1988. Although Abe seemed to regain his political influence, a liver ailment claimed his life before he was able to make another bid for the prime ministership.


Shinzo Abe
Abe, Shinzo (b. Sept. 21, 1954, Nagato, Yamaguchi prefecture, Japan - d. July 8, 2022, Kashihara, Nara prefecture, Japan), prime minister of Japan (2006-07, 2012-20); son of Shintaro Abe; grandson of Nobusuke Kishi. In 1982 he began working as secretary to his father, who was Japan's foreign minister. In 1993 Abe won a seat in the lower house of the Diet and later held a series of government posts, garnering much support for his tough stance toward North Korea. He was deputy chief cabinet secretary in 2000-03, secretary-general of the Liberal-Democratic Party (LDP) in 2003-05, and chief cabinet secretary in 2005-06. Due to LDP term limits, the LDP leader and prime minister Junichiro Koizumi was forced to leave office in 2006, and he was succeeded in both posts by Abe, who became the country's first prime minister to have been born after World War II and its youngest since the war. A conservative, he sought to pursue a more assertive foreign policy and pledged to revise the country's postwar constitution, which placed severe restrictions on its military. In domestic affairs, he promised to shore up the country's pension and health-insurance systems. However, his government soon became embroiled in a series of public embarrassments and financial scandals; in July 2007 the LDP lost its majority in the upper house, and in September Abe resigned. After a succession of five more one-year prime ministers (from 2009 of the Democratic Party of Japan), he returned to the office when he was again elected LDP leader in September 2012 and then won the lower-house elections in December, beginning what turned out to be one of the longest terms of a Japanese prime minister. His 2013 visit to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, a memorial to Japan's military dead including individuals convicted of war crimes, precipitated loud protests from other countries in the region. He called snap elections in 2014 and won by a large margin, and thereafter actively pursued revision of the constitution. The LDP's strong position was also held in the elections he called in 2017, and in 2018 he was reelected party leader, allowing him to become Japan's longest-serving prime minister in 2019. The following year he resigned because of ill health. In 2022 he was fatally shot while giving a campaign speech in Nara.

Abe, Shuichi (b. Dec. 21, 1960), governor of Nagano (2002 [acting], 2010- ).

Abecia Baldivieso, Valentín (b. Oct. 9, 1925, Potosí, Bolivia - d. July 28, 2010, La Paz, Bolivia), foreign minister of Bolivia (1989). He was also ambassador to Spain (1986-89) and the Vatican (2003-05).


Abeid
Abeid (Abderemane), Said (b. 1941, Mutsamudu, Anjouan, Comoros), head of state of Anjouan (1999-2001).

Abeille, Jean-Pierre (b. Aug. 8, 1907, Alençon, Orne, France - d. June 16, 1981, Arcachon, Gironde, France), prefect of Guadeloupe (1958-60). He was also prefect of the French départements of Lozère (1950-51), Savoie (1952-53), Aude (1953-56), Charente (1956-58), and Aisne (1960-64).

Abel, Charles (b. Sept. 24, 1969), finance and rural development minister of Papua New Guinea (2019). He was also minister of culture and tourism (2007-10), trade, commerce, and industry (2011-12, O'Neill government), national planning (2012-17), and education and police (2019), minister assisting the prime minister on constitutional matters (2011), and deputy prime minister and treasury minister (2017-19).

Abel, I(orwith) W(ilbur) (b. Aug. 11, 1908, Magnolia, Ohio - d. Aug. 10, 1987, Malvern, Ohio), president of the United Steelworkers of America (1965-77).

Abel, Jean-Baptiste (Eugène) (b. Jan. 12, 1863, Toulon, France - d. Sept. 30, 1921, Toulon), governor-general of Algeria (1919-21). He was also French minister of labour (1914).

Abel, Karl (August) (from March 12, 1844:) von (b. Sept. 17, 1788, Wetzlar [now in Hessen, Germany] - d. Sept. 3, 1859, Munich, Bavaria), president of the Council of Ministers of Bavaria (1837-47).

Abel Smith, Sir Henry, originally (until 1931) Henry Smith (b. March 8, 1900, London, England - d. Jan. 24, 1993, Winkfield, Berkshire, England), governor of Queensland (1958-66); knighted 1950.


C. Abela
Abela, Carmelo (b. Feb. 10, 1972), home affairs minister (2014-17) and foreign minister (2017-20) of Malta.


G. Abela

R. Abela
Abela, George (b. April 22, 1948, Qormi, Malta), president of Malta (2009-14).

Abela, Joseph (Felix) (b. March 11, 1922, Dingli, Malta - d. Sept. 7, 1995), finance minister of Malta (1971-79).

Abela, Robert (b. Dec. 7, 1977, Sliema, Malta), prime minister of Malta (2020- ); son of George Abela.

Abela, Wistin (b. Oct. 19, 1933, Zejtun, Malta - d. Jan. 20, 2014, Zejtun), finance minister of Malta (1983-87). He was also minister of development (1974-76), development, energy, port, and telecommunications (1976-81), and economic development (1981-83) and a deputy prime minister (1981-87).

Abelin, Gustaf Rudolf (b. May 17, 1819, Linköping, Östergötland, Sweden - d. Sept. 19, 1903, Kvillinge socken, Östergötland), war minister of Sweden (1867-71).

Abell, Sir Anthony Foster (b. Dec. 11, 1906 - d. Oct. 8, 1994), governor of Sarawak (1950-59); knighted 1952.

Abella, Ernesto (Corpus), byname Ernie Abella (b. March 22, 1950, Davao City, Philippines), Philippine politician. He was presidential spokesperson (2016-17) and a minor presidential candidate (2022).

Abello, Manuel (b. 1812, Magdalena department, New Granada [now Colombia] - d. Oct. 29, 1872, Bogotá, Colombia), president of Magdalena (1869-71) and war and navy minister of Colombia (1872); brother of Tomás E. Abello.

Abello, Tomás E., president of Magdalena (1865-67).

Abelyan, Movses (Semenovich) (b. 1963, Yerevan, Armenian S.S.R.), Armenian diplomat. He was permanent representative to the United Nations (1997-2003).

Abendroth, Amandus Augustus (b. Oct. 16, 1767, Hamburg - d. Dec. 17, 1842, Hamburg), joint mayor of Hamburg (1831-42).

Abercorn, James Albert Edward Hamilton, (3rd) Duke of (b. Nov. 30, 1869, London, England - d. Sept. 12, 1953, London), governor of Northern Ireland (1922-45); grandson of James Hamilton, Duke of Abercorn. He succeeded as duke in 1913.

Abercorn, James Hamilton, (1st) Duke of (b. Jan. 21, 1811, Westminster, London, England - d. Oct. 31, 1885, Baronscourt, County Tyrone, Ireland [now in Northern Ireland]), lord lieutenant of Ireland (1866-68, 1874-76). He succeeded as (2nd) Marquess of Abercorn in 1818 and was created duke in 1868.

Abercrombie, Neil (b. June 26, 1938, Buffalo, N.Y.), governor of Hawaii (2010-14).

Aberdare, Henry Austin Bruce, (1st) Baron (b. April 16, 1815, Aberdare, Glamorgan, Wales - d. Feb. 25, 1895, London, England), British home secretary (1868-73) and president of the Royal Niger Company (1886-95). He was also lord president of the council (1873-74). He was created baron in 1873.

Aberdeen, George Hamilton Gordon, (4th) Earl of, (1st) Viscount Gordon of Aberdeen, (4th) Viscount Formartine, (4th) Lord Haddo, Methlick, Tarves and Kellie, original name George Gordon (b. Jan. 28, 1784, Edinburgh, Scotland - d. Dec. 14, 1860, London, England), British prime minister (1852-55). He was also chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1828), foreign secretary (1828-30, 1841-46), and war and colonial secretary (1834-35). He succeeded as earl in 1801 and was created Viscount Gordon of Aberdeen in 1814; in 1818 he added "Hamilton" to his name.

Aberdeen and Temair, John Campbell Hamilton Gordon, (1st) Marquess of (b. Aug. 3, 1847, Edinburgh, Scotland - d. March 7, 1934, Tarland village, Aberdeenshire, Scotland), lord lieutenant of Ireland (1886, 1905-15) and governor general of Canada (1893-98). He became the 7th Earl of Aberdeen (and 7th Viscount Formartine, 7th Lord Haddo, Methlick, Tarves and Kellie, 4th Viscount Gordon of Aberdeen, 9th Baronet Gordon) in 1870 and was created 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair (and 1st Earl of Haddo) in 1916.

Åberg, Carl Johan (b. Oct. 19, 1930, Hälsingborg, Malmöhus [now Helsingborg, Skåne], Sweden - d. March 7, 2010), governor of Västmanland (1989-90).


Aberhart
Aberhart, William (b. Dec. 30, 1878, Kippen, Ont. - d. May 23, 1943, Vancouver, B.C.), premier of Alberta (1935-43). He founded the Calgary Prophetic Bible Institute in 1918 and became widely known for his religious broadcasts. In 1932 he became interested in Social Credit, the unorthodox theories of Clifford Douglas (1879-1952), a Scottish engineer. Aberhart proposed to issue dividends to each person, based on the real wealth of the province. He was not a candidate in the 1935 provincial election, but in his campaign he promised electors a monthly dividend of $25 would be made for every man and woman in the province and that he would take over as premier if his party won at the polls. Social Credit Party candidates won 56 of the 63 assembly seats, while the previous United Farmers of Alberta government failed to win a single seat. Aberhart took over as premier when a seat was found for him in the Okotoks-High River constituency. He also held the portfolios of minister of education and (from 1937) attorney-general. He determined to make Alberta an example of the Social Credit system, but the necessary legislation was declared unconstitutional by provincial and federal courts and the Privy Council. Undaunted, he set up a modified social credit system in 1938. Under the modified system, he set up branches of the provincial treasury which accepted the social credit vouchers which his government issued. The premier and civil servants accepted part payment of their salaries in vouchers. He was reelected in 1940, pledged to establish a financial system based on utilizing national wealth. Another bill disallowed by the courts was his "Accurate News and Information Act" which was criticized as an act to control the press. He died in office.

Abernathy, David M., mayor of Charlotte (1926-27).


Abernethy

Abhisit
Abernethy, George (b. Oct. 7, 1807, Aberdeen, Scotland - d. May 2, 1877, Portland, Ore.), chairman of the Executive Committee of Oregon (1845-49).

Abeto, Quirico (Marañon) (b. June 16, 1882, Mandurriao [now part of Iloilo City], Iloilo, Philippines - d. [plane crash] Nov. 23, 1960, Mt. Baco, Occidental Mindoro, Philippines), justice secretary of the Philippines (1933-34).

Abeywardena, Lakshman Yapa (b. June 7, 1955), governor of North Western province (2023-24) and Southern province (2024- ). He was also Sri Lankan minister of foreign employment and welfare (2003-04), media (2007-10), investment promotion (2013-15), and parliamentary affairs (2015).

Abeywardena, Mahinda Yapa (b. Oct. 10, 1945), chief minister of Southern province, Sri Lanka (1994-2001). He was also Sri Lankan minister of cultural affairs and national heritage (2005-10), agriculture (2010-15), and parliamentary affairs (2015) and speaker of parliament (2020-24).

Abeywardena, Vajira (b. Sept. 2, 1963), home affairs minister of Sri Lanka (2015-18, 2018-19). He was also minister of public administration, management, and reforms (2001-04) and provincial councils and local government (2018-19).

Abhisit Vejjajiva (b. Aug. 3, 1964, Newcastle, England), prime minister of Thailand (2008-11). He was also a minister to the prime minister's office (1997-2001) and leader of the Democrat Party (2005-19).

Abi-Ackel, Ibrahim (b. March 2, 1927, Manhumirim, Minas Gerais, Brazil), justice minister of Brazil (1980-85).

Abiahy, Silvino Elvidio Carneiro da Cunha, barão de (b. Aug. 31, 1831, Alhandra, Paraíba, Brazil - d. April 8, 1892, aboard the Olinda, near Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil), president of Rio Grande do Norte (1870-71), Alagoas (1871-72), Maranhão (1873), and Paraíba (1873-76 and [acting] 1889). He was made baron in 1888.

Abibi, Daniel (b. March 13, 1942, Allad, French Congo [now Congo (Brazzaville)]), Congo (Brazzaville) politician. He was minister of information, posts, and telecommunications (1983-84) and secondary and higher education (1984-86) and permanent representative to the United Nations (1993-98).

Abibu Sakapela (bin Mungamba), Maurice (b. April 4, 1966, Stanleyville, Congo [Léopoldville] [now Kisangani, Congo (Kinshasa)]), acting governor of Tshopo (2017, 2021-22).

Abidin Pasha, Prevezeli, or Abidin Dino (b. 1843, Preveza, Ottoman Empire [now in Greece] - d. May 9, 1906, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey]), foreign minister of the Ottoman Empire (1880). He was also governor of Sivas (1879-80, 1885-86), Salonika (1880), Adana (1881-85), Angora (1886-93), and the Archipelago (1893-1906).

Abiko, Tokichi (b. Feb. 22, 1904, Yamagata prefecture, Japan - d. April 6, 1992), governor of Yamagata (1955-73) and Japanese minister of home affairs (1980-81).

Abil, Iolu (Johnson), also spelled Abbil, with traditional name (until 2012) Iolu Abil Kaniapnin (b. 1942, Lauaneai village, Tanna island, New Hebrides [now Vanuatu]), president of Vanuatu (2009-14). He was home affairs minister in 1987-91.

Abilsiitov, Galym (Abilsiitovich) (b. 1940), Kazakh politician. He was minister of science and new technologies (1992-94) and a deputy prime minister (1993-94).


Abinader
Abinader (Corona), Luis (Rodolfo) (b. July 12, 1967, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic), president of the Dominican Republic (2020- ). He was an unsuccessful presidential candidate in 2016.


Abiola
Abiola, Moshood (Kashimawo Olawale) ("MKO") (b. Aug. 24, 1937, Abeokuta [now in Ogun state], Nigeria - d. July 7, 1998, Abuja, Nigeria), Nigerian politician. He rode the crest of Nigeria's oil boom of the 1970s and through involvement in a series of massive telecommunications projects with the American multinational ITT, became one of the country's wealthiest men. In 1979, when a military government kept its word and handed over to civilians, he went into politics and joined the National Party of Nigeria, which won that year's election. But a military coup in 1983 swept away the NPN and, for the time being, Abiola's political hopes. He went back to making money, his business interests now including an airline, a shipping company, and a newspaper syndicate. He returned to politics when elections were held in 1993. Initially dismissed as a fat cat who earned much of his fortune with questionable business practices, Abiola was able, through shrewd alliance building and judicious cash disbursements, to knit together a solid political majority from among 250 ethnic groups. Running as the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, he won almost 60% of the vote. However, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida's regime annulled the election before the final results were published. Abiola agitated publicly for the presidency he had won, and in an uncharacteristically audacious pronouncement, he declared himself president in 1994. Gen. Sani Abacha, who had taken power in a coup in late 1993, swiftly jailed Abiola, accusing him of treason. His release seemed imminent following the death of Abacha in June 1998 and a visit to Nigeria by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in early July. However, Abiola died suddenly, arousing suspicions of foul play; heart attack was officially declared to be the cause of death.

Abis, Lucio (Gustavo) (b. Feb. 24, 1926, Oristano, Sardegna, Italy - d. Dec. 20, 2014, Oristano), president of Sardegna (1970). He was also Italian minister of European affairs (1981-82) and relations with parliament (1982-83).

Abisala, Aleksandras (Algirdas) (b. Dec. 28, 1955), prime minister of Lithuania (1992).

Abishev, Syzdyk (Zhumatayevich) (b. Dec. 9, 1936, Karaganda, Kazakh S.S.R. - d. Aug. 20, 1998), Kazakh politician. He was chairman of the state committee (1990) and minister (1990-94) of foreign economic relations (1990-94) and a deputy prime minister (1993-94).

Abisinito, Kiatro (Ottao) (b. May 25, 1954), Papua New Guinean diplomat. He was permanent representative to the United Nations and ambassador to the United States (1986-87).

Abitov, Boris (Magometovich) (b. Aug. 25, 1956), acting interior minister of Abkhazia (2016).

Abiut, Roger (Tom) (b. 1972?), acting president of Vanuatu (2004, 2004). He was speaker of parliament in 2003-04.


Abiy
Abiy Ahmed (Ali) (b. Aug. 15, 1976, Agaro [now in Jimma zone, Oromia state], Ethiopia), prime minister of Ethiopia (2018- ). From 2010 he served as a member of the central committee of the Oromo People's Democratic Organization (OPDO), one of the four coalition parties of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), a member of the federal House of People's Representatives (lower chamber of parliament), director-general of the government research institute Science and Technology Information Centre, minister of science and technology (2015-16), and deputy president of Oromia region. He was elected chairman of OPDO in February 2018 and of the EPRDF in March, before becoming prime minister in April. He is the first prime minister from the country's biggest ethnic group, the Oromo. He soon electrified Ethiopia with a dizzying array of liberal reforms credited by many with saving the country from civil war. He freed thousands of political prisoners, unblocked hundreds of censored websites, ended the 20-year state of war with Eritrea, lifted a state of emergency, and planned to open key economic sectors to private investors, including the state-owned Ethiopian Airlines. In June, an estimated four million people attended a rally Abiy gave in the capital's Meskel Square. In July he helped reconcile a 27-year schism in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. In September he rebranded OPDO as the Oromo Democratic Party. In October he appointed a cabinet that was half female. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019. Still, in 2020 his federal government was embroiled in a violent conflict with the Tigray region after the latter went ahead with elections that were delayed federally due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to each side seeing the other as illegitimate.

Abiye Abebe (b. 1918 - d. [executed] Nov. 23, 1974, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia), minister of war (1943-47 [acting], 1949-55), interior (1961-64), and defense (1974) of Ethiopia. He was also governor-general of Wollega (1942-43), ambassador to France (1955-58), justice minister (1958-61), emperor's representative in Eritrea (1959-62), and president of the Senate (1964-74).

Abizaid, John (Philip) (b. April 1, 1951, Coleville, Calif.), U.S. general. A grandson of Lebanese Christian immigrants, he led a Ranger rifle company during the 1983 invasion of Grenada, where he hot-wired a bulldozer to improvise an attack on a Cuban bunker, an episode that was depicted in Heartbreak Ridge, a 1986 movie with Clint Eastwood playing Abizaid. He also served with UN forces in Lebanon, oversaw relief operations in northern Iraq in the wake of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, and served as commander of West Point and as director of the staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In July 2003 he was promoted to general and became commander of U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for military operations from the Horn of Africa to Central Asia, covering much of the Middle East. Specifically, he took over operations in occupied Iraq, where resistance against U.S. forces was ongoing. He left as CENTCOM chief in 2007, with Iraq's future as uncertain as ever with continuing sectarian violence, mounting casualties, and U.S. leaders struggling with an exit strategy. In 2019-21 he was ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

Abo Nassour, Abdoulaye Sabre, Abo also spelled Abbo (b. 1927, Kapka, Chad - d. [killed] 1983), finance minister (1959) and interior minister (1960-62) of Chad. He was also minister of cooperation (1958-59) and civil service (1962), minister of state (1962-63), and president of the National Assembly (1970-75).

Aboah, William Kwasi (b. June 4, 1939), interior minister of Ghana (2012-13).

Aboltina, Solvita (b. Feb. 19, 1963, Riga, Latvian S.S.R.), justice minister (2004-06) and acting defense minister (2005) of Latvia. She has also been speaker of the Saeima (2010-14) and ambassador to Italy (2018-24) and the Netherlands (2024- ).

Abondo, Jérôme Emilien (b. July 20, 1940, Douala, French Cameroons [now in Cameroon] - d. March 9, 2013, Yaoundé, Cameroon), defense minister (1985-86) and territorial administration minister (1986-88) of Cameroon.

Abouba, Albadé, interior minister (2002-04, 2007-10) and acting prime minister (2009) of Niger. He was also agriculture minister (2016-20) and a presidential candidate (2020).

Aboud, Mahmoud M(ohamed), Comoran diplomat. He was chargé d'affaires at the United Nations and in the United States (2002-07) and ambassador to China (2011-21).

Aboudou, Saliou (b. c. 1941, Kandi, Dahomey [now Benin] - d. July 15, 2020, Cotonou, Benin), justice minister of Benin (1987-90). He was also ambassador to Belgium (1984-87, 1997-2001) and the Vatican (1985-87) and president of the Supreme Court (2001-11).

Abouhamad, Khalil (b. Nov. 15, 1936 - d. Sept. 4, 1992), foreign minister of Lebanon (1970-73).

Aboul Gheit, Ahmed, Arabic Ahmad Abu al-Ghayt (b. June 12, 1942, Heliopolis, Egypt), foreign minister of Egypt (2004-11) and secretary-general of the Arab League (2016- ). He was also ambassador to Italy, San Marino, and Macedonia (1992-96) and permanent representative to the United Nations (1999-2004).

Aboul-Nasr, Mahmoud, Omani diplomat. He was permanent representative to the United Nations (1977-84).

Aboulatta, Amr Abdellatif (b. Nov. 10, 1957, Giza, Egypt), Egyptian diplomat. He was ambassador to Jordan (2008-12) and permanent representative to the United Nations (2014-18).

Abouyoub, Hassan (b. May 18, 1952, Berrechid, Morocco), Moroccan politician. He has been minister of external trade, foreign investment, and tourism (1990-93) and agriculture (1995-97) and ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, and Somalia (1994-95), France (1999-2004), Italy (2010-16), and Romania (2018- ).

Abraham, Alan R(ockwell) (b. Feb. 1, 1931, Halifax, N.S. - d. Oct. 2, 2020), lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia (1984-89).

Abraham, Hérard (b. July 28, 1940 - d. Aug. 24, 2022), foreign minister (1987-88, 2005-06), president of the Military Government (1990), and interior minister (2004-05) of Haiti. He was also minister of information (1986-87) and army chief (1990-91).

Abraham, Kochakkan Chacko (b. Jan. 20, 1899 - d. March 14, 1986), governor of Andhra Pradesh (1978-83).


S. Abraham

H. Abrahamyan
Abraham, (Edward) Spencer (b. June 12, 1952, Lansing, Mich.), U.S. energy secretary (2001-05).

Abrahamsen, Lars Kristian (b. Oct. 18, 1855, Hedrum [now part of Larvik], Norway - d. July 21, 1921), justice minister of Norway (1913-16). He was also minister of trade, shipping, and industry (1908-10) and social affairs (1916-19).

Abrahamyan, Hovik (Argami) (b. Jan. 24, 1958, Mkhchyan village, Ararat province, Armenian S.S.R.), prime minister of Armenia (2014-16). He was also governor of Ararat region (1998-2000), minister of territorial administration (2000-08), a deputy prime minister (2007-08), head of the presidential administration (2008), and chairman of the National Assembly (2008-11, 2012-14).

Abrahamyan, Suren (Dzhangirovich) (b. Jan. 14, 1947), interior minister of Armenia (1999). He was also governor of Syunik (1996-98) and mayor of Yerevan (1998-99).

Abramchenko, Viktoriya (Valeriyevna) (b. May 22, 1975, Chernogorsk, Khakass autonomous oblast, Krasnoyarsk kray, Russian S.F.S.R. [now in Khakassia, Russia]), a deputy prime minister of Russia (2020-24). She was also head of the Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre, and Cartography (2016-20).

Abramchyk, Mikalay (Syamyonavich) (b. Aug. 16, 1903 - d. May 29, 1970), chairman of the Rada (1943-70) and of the Council of Ministers (1943-48) of the Belorussian People's Republic in exile.

Abramov, Aleksandr (Konstantinovich) (b. Sept. 9 [Aug. 28, O.S.], 1836 - d. Nov. 6 [Oct. 25, O.S.], 1886, Simferopol, Crimea, Russia), governor of Fergana oblast (1877-83).

Abramov, Aleksandr (Sergeyevich) (b. Feb. 10, 1957, Kurilovo, Moscow oblast, Russian S.F.S.R.), Russian politician. He was secretary of the State Council (2000-12).

Abramov, Kiyam (Alimbekovich) (b. June 7 [May 26, O.S.], 1897, Starye Tinchali, Simbirsk province [now in Tatarstan republic], Russia - d. [executed] May 9, 1938, Kazan, Tatar A.S.S.R., Russian S.F.S.R.), chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Tatar A.S.S.R. (1930-37).

Abramov, Sedrak (Karapetovich) (b. 1900, Vartashen, Yelizavetpol province, Russia [now Oguz, Azerbaijan] - d. ...), first secretary of the Communist Party committee of Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous oblast (1949-52). He was also people's commissar of fisheries of the Azerbaijan S.S.R. (1939-45).


Sergey Abramov
Abramov, Sergey (Borisovich) (b. Feb. 29, 1972, Moscow, Russian S.F.S.R.), finance minister (2002-03), prime minister (2004-06), and acting president (2004) of Chechnya. On July 13, 2004, he survived an explosion that went off near his car; one of his guards was killed and two others were wounded. He suffered serious injuries on Nov. 17, 2005, when his car collided with a truck 40 km west of Moscow.

Abramov, Yakov (Ivanovich) (b. Oct. 11, 1900, Malyshevo, Vladimir province, Russia - d. March 25, 1969, Novgorod, Russian S.F.S.R. [now Veliky Novgorod, Russia]), chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Mari A.S.S.R. (1938-43). He was also chairman of the Executive Committee of Penza oblast (1948-49).

Abramov, Yevgeny (Aleksandrovich) (b. Feb. 2, 1939), acting interior minister of Russia (1995).

Abramova, Olga (Viktorovna) (b. Nov. 23, 1981, Sigayevo, Udmurt A.S.S.R., Russian S.F.S.R.), acting prime minister of Udmurtia (2024).


Abramovich
Abramovich, Roman (Arkadyevich) (b. Oct. 24, 1966, Saratov, Russian S.F.S.R.), head of the administration of Chukotka autonomous okrug (2001-08). At the beginning of the 1990s he started doing business in the murky waters of Russian economic reform. At first he faced troubles. On June 19, 1992, he was accused of plunder and arrested in Moscow, but was subsequently released. A few years later he hit the jackpot, when he became a business partner of influential tycoon Boris Berezovsky. When in 1996 Berezovsky acquired a state-owned oil company, Sibneft, Abramovich became a member of its board. He was also quick to establish his influence behind the Kremlin walls. At first, he seemed to be just a friend of Valentin Yumashev, the head of the presidential administration. But by summer 1999, the media openly named him a valet of Boris Yeltsin's ruling clan. On Dec. 19, 1999, he won a place in the State Duma for the remote Arctic region of Chukotka, without even appearing in the constituency. It was probably an attempt to avoid criminal prosecution after the end of the Yeltsin era. But when he was sure that the right man was in the Kremlin, he went further. On Dec. 24, 2000, with backing from Pres. Vladimir Putin, he recorded a landslide victory in gubernatorial elections in Chukotka, taking more than 90% of the votes cast. He resigned from all positions at Sibneft, but remained its de facto owner after Berezovsky sold his shares. In 2000 he had also acquired a 50% share in Russia's top aluminum producer, but sold it in 2003. That helped him to become Russia's second-richest man with his personal wealth totaling 3.3 billion euros. He rarely appeared in Chukotka, mainly concentrating on buying luxuries in Europe. On July 2, 2003, he hit the international headlines when it was announced that he had added famous English football club Chelsea to the list of his big buys. He did not seek reelection as governor, but Putin reappointed him in 2005 after direct elections of regional leaders were abolished; in 2006 Putin denied a resignation request by Abramovich, a signal that the tycoon should continue serving as benefactor of the impoverished region. In 2008, however, new president Dmitry Medvedev signed off on Abramovich's departure. In 2018 Abramovich, who is Jewish, took Israeli citizenship, allowing him to be exempt from paying tax for 10 years. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he was forced to sell Chelsea, the proceeds to go to Ukraine.


C.W. Abrams
Abrams, Creighton W(illiams), Jr. (b. Sept. 15, 1914, Springfield, Mass. - d. Sept. 4, 1974, Washington, D.C.), chief of staff of the U.S. Army (1972-74). General Abrams was the U.S. commander in the Vietnam War from 1968 to 1972.

Abrams, Robert (b. July 4, 1938, Bronx, New York City), borough president of Bronx (1970-79).

Abramson, Albert (b. May 1, 1876 - d. Nov. 1, 1944), chief British representative in Transjordan (1921).


Abramson
Abramson, Jerry E(dwin) (b. Sept. 12, 1946, Louisville, Ky.), mayor of Louisville (1986-99, 2003-11).

Abranches, Frederico José Cardoso de Araujo (b. Jan. 20, 1844, Guaratinguetá, São Paulo, Brazil - d. Sept. 17, 1903, São Paulo, Brazil), president of Paraná (1873-75) and Maranhão (1875-76).

Abrantes, Braz Benjamin da Silva (b. Feb. 3, 1841, Bonfim [now Silvânia], Goiás, Brazil - d. May 27, 1923, Goiás, Goiás), president of Goiás (1892).

Abrantes, Miguel Calmon du Pin e Almeida, (visconde e) marquês de (b. Oct. 26, 1796, Santo Amaro, Bahia, Brazil - d. Sept. 13, 1865, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), finance minister (1827-28, 1828-29, 1837-39, 1841-43) and foreign minister (1829-30, 1862-64) of Brazil. He was also secretary of the interim council of government of Bahia (1822-23). He was made viscount in 1849 and marquess in 1854.

Abrasimov, Pyotr (Andreyevich) (b. May 29 [May 16, O.S.], 1912, Bogushevsk, Vitebsk province, Russia [now Bahuseusk, Vitsebsk voblasts, Belarus] - d. Feb. 16, 2009, Moscow, Russia), Soviet official. He was ambassador to Poland (1957-61), East Germany (1962-71, 1975-83), France (1971-73), Madagascar (1972-73), and Japan (1985-86), first secretary of the party committee of Smolensk oblast (1961-62), and chairman of the State Committee for Foreign Tourism (1983-85).


Abregov
Abregov, Adib (Khasanbiyevich) (b. March 28, 1961, Baksansky rayon, Kabardino-Balkar A.S.S.R., Russian S.F.S.R.), acting prime minister of Kabardino-Balkariya (2011).

Abreu, Alcinda (António de) (b. Oct. 13, 1953, Nova Sofala, southeastern Mozambique), foreign minister of Mozambique (2005-08). She was also minister of social welfare (1994-97) and environmental coordination (2008-15).

Abreu, Anisio Auto de (b. 1864, Teresina, Piauí, Brazil - d. Dec. 6, 1909, Teresina), governor of Piauí (1908-09).

Abreu, Areolino Antonio de (b. Aug. 8, 1865, Teresina, Piauí, Brazil - d. May 31, 1908, União, Piauí), acting governor of Piauí (1907-08); brother of Anisio Auto de Abreu.

Abreu, Carlos Augusto Ferraz de (b. Feb. 2, 1834, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - d. Oct. 21, 1872, Rio de Janeiro), acting president of Paraná (1867, 1868) and president of Santa Catarina (1869).

Abreu, Joaquim José de Moraes e (b. 1788?, Araritaguaba [now Porto Feliz], São Paulo, Brazil - d. Dec. 11, 1850, São Paulo, Brazil), acting president of São Paulo (1844).

Abreu, Joaquim Mauricio de (b. May 16, 1852, Sapucaia, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - d. May 16, 1913, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), president of Rio de Janeiro (1894-97).

Abreu, Ovídio Xavier de (b. Sept. 28, 1898, Pará de Minas, Minas Gerais, Brazil - d. Dec. 13, 1990, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), acting finance minister of Brazil (1948). He was also president of the Bank of Brazil (1949-50).

Abreu (de Lao), Santiago (b. c. 1803 - d. [killed] August 1837), governor of New Mexico (1831-33).

Abreu (Bonilla), Sergio (Enrique) (b. Nov. 12, 1945, Montevideo, Uruguay), foreign minister of Uruguay (1993-95). He was vice presidential running mate of Luis Alberto Lacalle in 1999 and minister of industry, energy, and mines in 2000-02.

Abreu Rescaniere, Tomás (Antonio) (b. Aug. 14, 1927, Maturín, Monagas, Venezuela), defense minister of Venezuela (1980-81). He was also general commander of the army (1979-80).

Abrial, Jean (Marie Charles) (b. Dec. 17, 1879, Réalmont, Tarn, France - d. Dec. 19, 1962, Dourgne, Tarn), governor-general of Algeria (1940-41) and marine minister of France (1942-43).

Abril Martorell, Fernando (b. Aug. 31, 1936, Valencia, Spain - d. Feb. 16, 1998, Madrid), Spanish politician. He served (1976-77) as agriculture minister in the government of Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez and as Suárez's deputy prime minister (1977-80). In the 1980s, Abril Martorell moved from politics to business.

Abrill (Galindo), Carlos Isaac (b. Nov. 4, 1863, Lima, Peru - d. 1926), war and navy minister (1914-15, 1919) and prime minister (1915) of Peru.

Abroskin, Pavel (Ivanovich) (b. March 1910 - d. 1970), Soviet politician. He was a deputy premier and chairman of the State Committee for Scientific Research Coordination of the Russian S.F.S.R. (1960-62, 1963-65) and director of Novocherkassk Electric Locomotive Plant (1962-63).

Absolum, Brian (William Peter) (b. Jan. 29, 1938, Auckland, N.Z. - d. Feb. 8, 2018, Wellington, N.Z.), New Zealand representative in the Cook Islands (1978-80) and administrator of Tokelau (1992-93). He was also high commissioner to Western Samoa (1986-88), Kiribati (1988-89), and South Africa (1994-99) and ambassador to Fiji (1988-91).

Abu al-Ghanam, Fawaz (b. 1932, Madaba, Transjordan [now Jordan] - d. January 2019), Jordanian politician. He was ambassador to Egypt (1973-74), Greece (1977-80), and Morocco (1980-81) and minister of youth affairs (1994-95).

Abu al-Timman, Jaafar (b. 1881, Baghdad, Ottoman Empire [now in Iraq] - d. 1945), finance minister of Iraq (1936-37).

Abu Bakar dan `Usuman as-Siddiq, also called Abubakar III (b. March 15, 1903, Denge district, Sokoto, Nigeria - d. Nov. 1, 1988, Sokoto?), sultan of Sokoto (1938-88). He was born on the day that British troops defeated the army of Sultan Attahiru I and began their occupation of northern Nigeria. After receiving a traditional Islamic education, Abubakar became scribe (1929) of the Denge district and learned the responsibilities of the traditional ruler of the country from his uncle, Sultan Hassan, whom Abubakar accompanied to Britain in 1934. He was appointed the 16th sultan of Sokoto in 1938; during World War II he enlisted some of his followers for Britain's Burma campaign, for which he was knighted in 1954, six years before Nigeria became independent. Throughout his rule, Abubakar emphasized the importance of education. He advocated education for girls when to do so was unpopular; he urged older students to go to Britain when northern Nigeria had no higher education; and he held weekly study groups in his own library for his subjects. Abubakar was also caliph, or spiritual leader, of an estimated 50 million Muslims in Nigeria and beyond its borders; he reigned as the leading Islamic figure in Africa south of the Sahara. An ascetic who wore turbans and robes and championed religious tolerance, Abubakar also spoke out against Western-educated intellectuals who failed to value their African heritage.

Abu Basha, Hassan (b. Dec. 2, 1922, Cairo, Egypt - d. Sept. 18, 2005, Cairo, Egypt), interior minister of Egypt (1982-84). He headed the State Security Department when Pres. Anwar as-Sadat ordered in September 1981 a massive nationwide crackdown on political opponents and Muslim and Christian extremists after sectarian clashes. Islamic militants killed Sadat the next month during a Cairo military parade. Abu Basha's role as the country's top security official made him also a target of the militants. On May 6, 1987, gunmen firing from a pickup truck seriously wounded him in the leg and hip outside his Cairo home. He was retired at the time, after last serving as minister of local government.


Abu Eissa
Abu Eissa, Farouk, Arabic Faruq Abu `Isa (b. 1933, Wad Medani, central Sudan - d. April 12, 2020, Khartoum, Sudan), foreign minister of The Sudan (1971). He was also labour minister (1970).

Abu Ghazala, Muhammad Abdel-Halim, Arabic Muhammad `Abd al-Halim Abu Ghazala (b. February 1930, Al Zohour village, Beheira governorate, Egypt - d. Sept. 6, 2008, Cairo, Egypt), defense minister of Egypt (1981-89). He was one of the Free Officers who staged a coup that overthrew the Egyptian monarchy and fought in every major Egyptian action from the 1948 Arab-Israeli war to the 1973 war against Israel. After serving as Egypt's military attaché in Washington in the late 1970s, he was appointed defense minister in 1981 and promoted to field marshal in 1982. He championed military reform and a strong alliance with Washington, and set to work during his tenure building up a defense manufacturing and industrial base. In March 1986, after Pres. Hosni Mubarak was forced to call in the army to quell an uprising by central security forces, many analysts and diplomats said the crisis had eroded Mubarak's legitimacy while simultaneously boosting Abu Ghazala's standing. But it was not to last. By late 1987, reports began to surface in the Western press of a collaboration between Egypt, Argentina, and Iraq on the development of a long-range missile, the Condor II - a collaboration that distressed Western powers. Allegations began to surface that efforts to illegally acquire U.S. missile technology were linked to Abu Ghazala. In April 1989, Mubarak moved him from defense minister to the ceremonial position of "presidential adviser," a post with almost no executive power. Less than six months later, U.S. officials said Egypt had ended its collaboration with Iraq and Argentina for the development of Condor II. In February 1993, Abu Ghazala resigned his post and bowed out of the public eye.

Abu Hassan (bin) Omar, Tan Sri (b. Sept. 15, 1940, Kampung Bukit Belimbing, near Kuala Selangor, Selangor, Malaya [now in Malaysia] - d. Sept. 8, 2018, Shah Alam, Selangor), foreign minister of Malaysia (1987-91) and chief minister of Selangor (1997-2000). He was also minister of welfare services (1984-86), federal territories (1986-87), and domestic trade and consumer affairs (1991-97). He received the title Datuk in 1981, Datuk Seri in 1988, and Tan Sri on June 5, 2004.

Abu Jaber, Kamel (Salih), Arabic Kamil Salih Abu Jabir (b. 1932, Amman, Transjordan [now Jordan] - d. May 29, 2020), foreign minister of Jordan (1991-93). He was also economy minister (1973).

Abu Korah, Ahmad (Saleh) (b. 1918, Salt, Ottoman Empire [now in Jordan]), Jordanian politician; son-in-law of Hashim Pasha Kheir. He was minister of health (1965-66) and labour and social affairs (1966-69).

Abu Mazen: see Abbas, Mahmoud.

Abu Meri, Hosams (b. Aug. 20, 1974, Lebanon), Latvian politician; ex-husband of Linda Murniece. He has been minister of health (2023- ).


Abu Nidal
Abu Nidal, original name Sabri Khalil al-Banna (b. May 1937, Jaffa, Palestine - d. Aug. 16, 2002, Baghdad, Iraq), Palestinian militant. During the 1948-49 Arab-Israeli war, the Bannas joined the mass flight of Palestinians to nearby Jordan. They spent nearly a year in a refugee camp - dumped from great wealth to abject poverty, an experience that branded him with a bitterness that would remain with him for life. After the Arabs' defeat in the 1967 war, he joined the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and quickly became a close ally of Yasir Arafat. But he soon accused Arafat of growing soft and split with him in 1974. A year later the PLO sentenced him to death in absentia, triggering an internecine war that led to shootouts in London, Paris, Beirut, Istanbul, and Karachi. In two decades of assassinations, hijackings, bombings, and blackmail, he attacked Jews, Arabs, and Westerners alike, eliminating some of the closest associates of Arafat. Abu Nidal was harboured by Iraq until 1983, then by Syria until 1986; he then went to Libya. In 1999 he wound up back in Iraq. His most famous victim was Arafat's longtime friend and PLO deputy leader, Salah Khalaf, better known as Abu Iyad, gunned down in 1991. The disintegration of Communism in eastern Europe crippled Abu Nidal: he had used Poland and other Soviet bloc countries as logistics bases. But the body blow came after Iraq, his chief financier, lost the 1991 Gulf War and became increasingly impoverished by UN sanctions. Abu Nidal's spectacular operations virtually ceased. Their last serious attack was thought to be the assassination of a Jordanian diplomat in Beirut in 1994, the year Jordan signed its peace treaty with Israel. Abu Nidal's death was called a suicide by Iraq, but many believed he was killed.

Abu Nimah, Hassan (b. Sept. 11, 1935, Battir, Palestine), Jordanian diplomat. He was ambassador to the Benelux countries (1980-90) and Italy, Portugal, and San Marino (1990-95) and permanent representative to the United Nations (1995-2000).

Abu Odeh, Adnan (S.) (b. Nov. 10, 1933, Nablus, Palestine - d. Feb. 2, 2022), Jordanian politician. He was minister of information (1970-73, 1973-74, 1976-79, 1980-84), chief of the royal court (1991-92), and permanent representative to the United Nations (1992-95).

Abu Saleh, Hussein Suleiman (b. 1930, Omdurman, Sudan - d. Dec. 6, 2021), foreign minister of The Sudan (1988-89, 1993-95). He was also minister of health (1985-88), housing (1990-91), and social development (1991-92).

Abu Taleb, Sufi (Hassan), Arabic Sufi (Hasan) Abu Talib (b. Jan. 27, 1925, Fayoum, Egypt - d. Feb. 21, 2008, Malaysia), speaker of the People's Assembly (1978-83) and acting president (1981) of Egypt.

Abu Zahar Isnin, Datuk Seri, Isnin also spelled Ithnin (b. Sept. 14, 1939 - d. July 12, 2013, Merlimau, Malacca, Malaysia), chief minister of Malacca (1997-99). He was awarded the titles Datuk (1987) and Datuk Seri (1997).

Abu Zahar (bin Dato' Nika) Ujang, Tan Sri (b. Feb. 1, 1944), Malaysian politician. He was president of the Dewan Negara (2010-16). He was awarded the titles Dato' (1996), Tan Sri (2007), and Dato' Seri Utama (2013).

Abu Zaid, (Mohamed) Hamdi (b. 1919, Egypt), Egyptian diplomat/politician. He was ambassador to Yugoslavia (1962-68), Mexico (1968-73), Syria (1974-75), and the Soviet Union (1976-77) and minister of civil aviation (1975-76).

Abu Zaid, Salah (b. April 21, 1923), foreign minister of Jordan (1972-73). He was also minister of information (1964-65, 1967, 1967-68, 1969-70, 1974-76), tourism and antiquities (1967-68, 1969-70), and culture (1969-70, 1974-76) and ambassador to the United Kingdom (1969, 1976-78).


Abu Zakouk
Abu Zakouk, Ali, foreign minister of Libya (2015-16, Tripoli government).

Abu Zeid, Mamoun Awad, interior minister of The Sudan (1976-77). He became a member of the Revolutionary Command Council in 1969 and was also minister of local popular government (1977) and energy and mining (1977-78). In 1984 he was accused of offenses under Islamic law and fled to London.


Abdulsalami
Abubakar
Abubakar, Abdulsalami (b. June 13, 1942, Minna [now in Niger state], Nigeria), chairman of the Provisional Ruling Council of Nigeria (1998-99). He enlisted into the Nigerian Air Force on Oct. 3, 1963, as an Officer Cadet. In 1964, he was dispatched to Germany for flying training. He returned in 1966 to fight with the federal Nigeria troops against the breakaway Republic of Biafra. Abubakar also trained at the Nigerian Defense Academy, Kaduna, as an Officer Cadet of Emergency Combatant Short Service Course 2. He was commissioned on Oct. 20, 1967, in the rank of Second Lieutenant and was posted to the Infantry. He received his formal training in the United States. Rising steadily through the ranks of the Nigerian army, he commanded Nigeria's contingent of the UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon in 1981. By the late 1980s he had become a senior officer. He became a major general Oct. 1, 1991. In 1993 he was named defense chief of staff by Gen. Sani Abacha. He was an influential member of Abacha's ruling military council and remained a close confidant of Abacha until the latter's sudden death on June 8, 1998. The following day, Abubakar was sworn in as the country's head of state. Abubakar, who had never before held public office, inherited a host of long-standing problems, including ethnic and regional strife, political corruption, widespread poverty, and mismanagement of the country's oil industry. By July, Abubakar had announced that he would follow a program that would restore the country to democracy. He had freed a number of political prisoners and announced the dissolution of the political parties and structures set up by Abacha. He also addressed economic issues and outlined a plan for multiparty elections, setting May 29, 1999, as the swearing-in date for a new civilian president.

Abubakar, Azwar (b. June 21, 1952, Banda Aceh, Aceh, Indonesia), acting governor of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (2004-05). He was also Indonesian minister of administrative reform (2011-14).

Abubakar, D(atti) S(adiq), administrator of Anambra (1978-79).

Abubakar, Mohammed Badaru (b. Sept. 29, 1962, Babura [now in Jigawa state], Nigeria), governor of Jigawa (2015-23) and defense minister of Nigeria (2023- ).

Abubakar, Mustafa (b. Oct. 15, 1949, Pidie, Aceh, Indonesia), acting governor of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (2005-07). He was also Indonesian minister of state-owned enterprises (2009-11).

Abubakar, Wan (b. Aug. 9, 1950, Selat Panjang, Bengkalis, Riau, Indonesia), governor of Riau (2008).

Abuchaibe Ochoa, Eduardo (José) (b. May 25, 1929, Riohacha, La Guajira, Colombia - d. Oct. 8, 2005, Bogotá, Colombia), Colombian politician. He was president of the Senate (1966-67, 1970-72), ambassador to Egypt (1976-77) and the Dominican Republic (1997-2002), and governor of La Guajira (1980-81).

Abul-Huda, Tawfiq, until 1952 Tawfiq Pasha Abul-Huda, Arabic Tawfiq Basha Abu al-Huda (b. 1894 - d. [suicide] July 1, 1956, Amman, Jordan), prime minister of Jordan (1938-44, 1947-50, 1951-53, 1954-55). He was also president of the Senate (1947-51).


Abulgaziyev
Abulgaziyev, Mukhammetkaly (Dyushekeyevich) (b. Jan. 20, 1968, Kochkor rayon, Naryn oblast, Kirgiz S.S.R.), first deputy prime minister (2016-17) and prime minister (2017 [acting], 2018-20) of Kyrgyzstan.

Abulhassan, Muhammad Abdullah (b. Jan. 12, 1943, Kuwait), Kuwaiti official. He was ambassador to China (1975-78) and Yugoslavia, Hungary, and East Germany (1978-81), permanent representative to the United Nations (1981-2003), and information minister (2003-05).


Abusahmain
Abusahmain, Nouri (Ali), Arabic Nuri `Ali Abu Sahmin (b. May 16, 1956, Zuara, Libya), chairman of the General National Congress of Libya (2013-14 and in rebellion 2014-16). Representing the town of Zuara near the border with Tunisia, he was the first member of the minority Amazigh (Berber) community to achieve a leadership role in Libya since Sulayman al-Baruni, who rose against the Italians in Tripolitania in 1911.

Abushagur, Mustafa (Abushagur Ghaith) (b. 1951, Suq al-Juma, near Tripoli, Libya), Libyan politician. He was elected prime minister in 2012, but his proposed cabinet was rejected.

Abushahab, Mohamed, United Arab Emirates diplomat. He has been ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg (2017-21) and permanent representative to the United Nations (2024- ).

Abuzyarov, Ismail (Khasyanovich) (b. 1904 - d. 1938?), acting chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Kirgiz S.S.R. (1938).


Abzug
Abzug, Bella, née Savitsky (b. July 24, 1920, New York City - d. March 31, 1998, New York City), U.S. politician. As a lawyer she defended victims of Sen. Joseph McCarthy's anti-Communist witch-hunts and helped draft legislation for the 1954 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. She founded and chaired Women Strike for Peace in 1961 to fight the U.S. government's plans to resume nuclear-weapons testing, and she helped lead factions within the Democratic Party that opposed the nomination of Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson and supported, in 1968, the candidacy of Sen. Eugene McCarthy, a Democrat from Minnesota who opposed the war in Vietnam. Along with Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan, Abzug was in the forefront of the feminist movement and was an early advocate for equal rights for women, abortion rights, and child-care legislation. With the slogan "This woman's place is in the House - the House of Representatives" and the backing of the Democratic Party's reform wing, Abzug beat Rep. Leonard Farbstein, a seven-term Democrat, in the 1970 primary for New York City's 19th district (Manhattan's Upper West Side). She then defeated talk-show host Barry Farber by fewer than 9,000 votes in the general election, becoming the first Jewish woman in Congress. She founded and chaired several of the country's first and foremost liberal political organizations for women. After serving three terms in the House, she narrowly lost the Democratic nomination for Senator in 1976 to Daniel Patrick Moynihan. The following year she was defeated in the primary for mayor of New York City. She also lost two attempts to return to Congress; her last bid was in 1986. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1994.

Accioli, Antonio Pinto Nogueira (b. Oct. 11, 1840, Icó, Ceará, Brazil - d. Oct. 14, 1921, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), president of Ceará (1878 [acting], 1884 [acting], 1892 [acting], 1896-1900, 1904-12).

Accioli, Hildebrando Pompeu Pinto (b. June 25, 1888, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil - d. April 5, 1962, Fortaleza), Brazilian diplomat; son of Antonio Pinto Nogueira Accioli. He was chargé d'affaires in the United States (1934), minister to Romania (1934-35), and ambassador to the Vatican (1939-44).

Accioly, João Baptista, Junior (b. Aug. 19, 1877, Maragogi, Alagoas, Brazil - d. Nov. 9, 1928, Maragogi), governor of Alagoas (1915-18).

Acebes (Paniagua), Ángel (Jesús) (b. July 3, 1958, Ávila, Spain), justice minister (2000-02) and interior minister (2002-04) of Spain. He was also mayor of Ávila (1991-95) and minister of public administration (1999-2000).

Acerbo, Giacomo (b. July 25, 1888, Loreto Aprutino, Pescara province, Italy - d. Jan. 9, 1969, Rome, Italy), finance minister of Italy (1943). He was also minister of agriculture and forestry (1929-35).

Aceval (Marín), (Tomás) Benjamín (b. 1845, Asunción, Paraguay - d. July 25, 1900, Asunción), foreign minister of Paraguay (1877, 1878-80, 1886-87); brother of Emilio Aceval. He was also minister to the United States (1877-79) and the United Kingdom, Spain, and France (1889-90).

Aceval (Marín), Emilio (b. Oct. 16, 1853, Asunción, Paraguay - d. April 15, 1931, Asunción), war minister (1894-96) and president (1898-1902) of Paraguay.


E. Acevedo
Acevedo (Candia), Euclides (Roberto) (b. May 13, 1950, Puerto Casado, Paraguay), interior minister (2019-21) and foreign minister (2021-22) of Paraguay. He was also ambassador to Spain and Morocco (1995-97), minister of industry and commerce (1999-2003), and a minor presidential candidate (2023).

Acevedo (Calderón), Ramón, also spelled Acebedo (b. September 1803, Tunja, New Granada [now in Colombia] - d. May 12, 1871, Bogotá, Colombia), war and navy minister of Colombia (1866).

Acevedo (Bienick), Rodney Elpidio (b. March 4, 1935 - d. March 8, 2020), foreign minister of Paraguay (1988-89). He was also ambassador to Spain and Morocco (1973-78).

Acevedo, Sergio (Edgardo) (b. May 1, 1956, Esquel, Chubut, Argentina), governor of Santa Cruz (2003-06).

Acevedo Tejada, José (b. April 28, 1806, Santafé, New Granada [now Bogotá, Colombia] - d. Jan. 14, 1850, Guaduas, New Granada [now Colombia]), war and navy minister (1841-43) and foreign minister (1849) of New Granada.

Acevedo Vega, Óscar (Octavio) (b. Sept. 10, 1899, Curicó, Chile - d. March 20, 1973, Santiago, Chile), justice minister of Chile (1958). He was also minister of lands and colonization (1958).


A. Acevedo
Acevedo Vilá, Aníbal (Salvador) (b. Feb. 13, 1962, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico), governor of Puerto Rico (2005-09). A member of the Popular Democratic Party, he was Puerto Rico's resident commissioner, its nonvoting representative in the U.S. Congress, in 2001-05. In March 2008 he and 12 political associates were charged with election funding fraud. The charges said he collected illegal contributions and spent far more than he reported during his election campaigns from 1999 to 2004. He was cleared of all charges in March 2009.

Achá (Valiente), José María de (b. July 8, 1810, Cochabamba, Viceroyalty of La Plata [now in Bolivia] - d. Jan. 28, 1868, Cochabamba), war minister (1858-61) and president (1861-64) of Bolivia.

Acharya, Binayak (b. Aug. 30, 1918 - d. Dec. 11, 1983), chief minister of Orissa (1976-77).

Acharya, Gyan Chandra (b. Nov. 20, 1960, Kathmandu, Nepal), Nepalese diplomat. He has been ambassador to Switzerland (2003-07) and the United Kingdom (2022- ), foreign secretary (2007-09), permanent representative to the United Nations (2009-12), and UN high representative for the least developed countries, landlocked developing countries, and small island developing states (2012-17).

Acharya, Jayaraj (b. Nov. 12, 1951, Tanahun, Nepal), Nepalese diplomat. He was permanent representative to the United Nations (1991-95).


L.P. Acharya
Acharya, Lakshman Prasad (b. Oct. 3, 1954, Varanasi, India), governor of Sikkim (2023-24) and Assam and Manipur (2024- ).

Acharya, Madhu Raman (b. Feb. 24, 1957, Udayapur, Nepal), Nepalese diplomat. He was ambassador to Bangladesh (1998-2001), foreign secretary (2001-05), and permanent representative to the United Nations (2005-09).

Acharya, Mahesh (b. Aug. 6, 1954, Biratnagar, Nepal), finance minister of Nepal (1991-94, 1999-2000, 2000-01).

Acharya, Nilambar (b. Aug. 10, 1943, Khalanga, Salyan district, Nepal), Nepalese politician. He was minister of law, justice, parliamentary affairs, labour, and social welfare (1990) and ambassador to India (2019-21).


P.B. Acharya
Acharya, Padmanabha Balakrishna (b. Oct. 8, 1931, Udupi, Mysore province [now Karnataka state], India - d. Nov. 10, 2023, Mumbai, India), governor of Nagaland (2014-19), Tripura (2014-15), Assam (2014-16), and Arunachal Pradesh (2017).

Acharya, Shailaja (b. May 8, 1944, Biratnagar, Nepal - d. June 12, 2009, Kathmandu, Nepal), Nepalese politician; niece of Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala, Girija Prasad Koirala, and Matrika Prasad Koirala. She was minister of agriculture and forests (1991-92) and deputy prime minister and minister of water resources (1998-99).


Acheampong
Acheampong, Ignatius Kutu (b. Sept. 23, 1931, Kumasi, Gold Coast [now Ghana] - d. June 16, 1979, Accra, Ghana), chairman of the National Redemption Council (1972-75) and of the Supreme Military Council (1975-78) of Ghana. Trained at Aldershot, England, as a cadet officer, he was commissioned in 1959 and served with distinction in the Ghanaian Army contingent during the United Nations operations in the Congo in 1962-63. He commanded a battalion (1969) and an infantry brigade (1971) as a lieutenant colonel and was made a general in 1976. After leading a military revolt that overthrew the government of Kofi Busia in 1972, he became Ghana's chief of state. Initially he earned the respect and loyalty of many Ghanaians as he pressed on with currency reform and an austerity program that banned the import of luxuries. But starting in late 1975, Ghana began to experience the troubles it had suffered under the previous regimes, with rising food prices and soaring inflation. Under increasing political pressure, Acheampong began in late 1976 to speak of transition to civilian rule with a so-called union government, a nonparty administration consisting of military and police officers and civilians. The military government then held a referendum in March 1978 and, amid signs of growing political repression, claimed a popular mandate for its proposed government. In mid-April, leading opposition figures were jailed on charges that they had sought to foment a general strike to prevent the results of the referendum. Other opposition figures fled the country. Acheampong was forced by army officers led by Lt.Gen. Fred W.K. Akuffo to resign in 1978. Following a 1979 coup led by young officers Acheampong was executed by firing squad after being convicted of squandering government funds.


D. Acheson
Acheson, Dean (Gooderham) (b. April 11, 1893, Middletown, Conn. - d. Oct. 12, 1971, Sandy Spring, Md.), U.S. secretary of state (1949-53). A Democrat, he supported Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 and was appointed undersecretary of the Treasury in 1933, a post he held for six months. He entered the Department of State in 1941 as an assistant secretary and was undersecretary from Aug. 16, 1945, to June 30, 1947. Appointed secretary of state by Pres. Harry S. Truman on Jan. 7, 1949, and sworn in on January 21, he promoted the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the first military alliance ever joined by the U.S. in peacetime. He articulated a policy and practice that assumed that the Soviet Union was bent on world conquest and, negotiations being vritually useless, could be deterred only by overwhelming U.S. economic, political, and military aid to countries on the perimeter of the Communist bloc. Nevertheless, he was too soft on Communism for some foreign-policy critics within both political parties. His enemies got particularly excited when he told a news conference, "I do not intend to turn my back on Alger Hiss" - a former State Department official convicted of perjury in a sensational spy-ring case. He also declined to dismiss other State Department officials under fire from Sen. Joseph McCarthy, who attacked Acheson for having "lost" China, pursued a "non-win" policy in Korea, and "coddled" Communists in government. But it was Acheson who established the policies of nonrecognition of Communist China and aid to the Chiang Kai-shek regime on Taiwan; furthermore, in May 1950 he sought and obtained economic and military aid to the French colonial regime in Indochina to help battle Ho Chi Minh.

Acheson, Sir James Glasgow (b. 1889 - d. Oct. 5, 1973), British resident in Jammu and Kashmir (1943-45); knighted 1945.


Achi

Achuthanandan
Achi, Patrick (Jérôme) (b. Nov. 17, 1955, Paris, France), prime minister of Côte d'Ivoire (2021-23). He was also minister of economic infrastructure (2000-10, 2010-17).

Achilles, Theodore C(arter) (b. Dec. 29, 1905, Rochester, N.Y. - d. April 8, 1986, Washington, D.C.), U.S. diplomat; nephew of George R. Carter. He was ambassador to Peru (1956-60).

Achu, Simon Achidi (b. Nov. 5, 1934, Bamenda, Cameroon - d. May 4, 2021, United States), justice minister (1972-75) and prime minister (1992-96) of Cameroon.

Achuthanandan, V(elikkakathu) S(ankaran) (b. Oct. 20, 1923, in present Alappuzha district, Kerala, India), chief minister of Kerala (2006-11).

Ackermann, Anton, original name Eugen Hanisch (b. Dec. 25, 1905, Thalheim, Saxony, Germany - d. [suicide] May 4, 1973, East Berlin), acting foreign minister of East Germany (1953).

Acland, Peter Bevil Edward (b. July 9, 1902 - d. Jan. 9, 1993), chief administrator of the Dodecanese Islands (1945) and Cyrenaica (1945-46).

Acosta (Montalván), Iván (Adolfo) (b. Sept. 28, 1964, Bluefields, Nicaragua), finance minister of Nicaragua (2012-24).

Acosta (y Pérez de Guzmán), Joaquín (b. Dec. 29, 1799 or 1800, Guaduas, New Granada [now in Colombia] - d. Feb. 21, 1852, Guaduas), foreign minister of New Granada (1843-45). He was also known as a historian and was chargé d'affaires in Ecuador (1837-39) and the United States (1842).

Acosta (y Castillo), (Manuel María de los) Santos (b. Nov. 1, 1828, Miraflores, Boyacá, New Granada [now Colombia] - d. Jan. 9, 1901, Bogotá, Colombia), interior minister (1863 [acting], 1884), acting foreign minister (1863), president (1867-68), and war and navy minister (1871-72, 1875-76, 1877-78) of Colombia. He was also president of Boyacá (1866-68) and minister to the United States (1868-70).

Acosta Bonilla, Manuel (b. Jan. 13, 1929, El Progreso, Yoro, Honduras - d. March 25?, 2021), finance minister of Honduras (1965-71, 1972-75). He was also permanent representative to the United Nations (2002-06).

Acosta Espinosa, Alberto (José) (b. July 21, 1948, Quito, Ecuador), Ecuadorian politician. He was minister of energy and mines (2007), president of the National Constituent Assembly (2007-08), and a minor presidential candidate (2013).

Acosta García, (Rafael) Julio (del Rosario) (b. May 23, 1872, San Ramón, Costa Rica - d. July 6, 1954, San José, Costa Rica), president of Costa Rica (1920-24). He was also minister-resident to El Salvador (1912-15) and foreign minister (1915-17, 1944-48).

Acosta Medina, Amylkar (David) (b. Nov. 1, 1950, Monguí, La Guajira, Colombia), Colombian politician. He was president of the Senate (1997-98) and minister of mines and energy (2013-14).

Acosta Osio, Alonso (Rafael), Colombian politician. He was president of the Chamber of Representatives (2003-04).

Acosta Velasco, Jaime (b. May 29, 1917, Quito, Ecuador - d. May 31, 1997, Quito), interior minister of Ecuador (1961); nephew of José María Velasco Ibarra. He was also treasury minister (1954-55) and president of the Chamber of Deputies (1962-63).

Acosta Velasco, Jorge (b. April 23, 1921, Quito, Ecuador - d. Jan. 2, 2015, Quito), defense minister of Ecuador (1969-71); brother of Jaime Acosta Velasco; nephew of José María Velasco Ibarra. He was also ambassador to Spain (1971-72).

Acuña (Peralta), César (b. Aug. 11, 1952, Tacabamba, Cajamarca, Peru), Peruvian presidential candidate (2021). He was also mayor of Trujillo (2007-14) and president/governor of La Libertad region (2015).

Acuña (Peralta), Humberto (b. April 26, 1966, Tacabamba, Cajamarca, Peru), Peruvian politician; brother of César Acuña. He was president (2011-15) and governor (2015-18) of Lambayeque region.

Acuña (Cedeño), Luis (Augusto) (b. May 26, 1946, El Palenque, Montes municipality, Sucre, Venezuela), governor of Sucre (2012-17). He was also Venezuelan minister of higher education (2007-10).

Aczél, György (b. Aug. 31, 1917, Budapest, Hungary - d. Dec. 6, 1991, Budapest), a deputy premier of Hungary (1974-82).


Ada
Ada, Joseph F(ranklin) (b. Dec. 3, 1943, Agana [now Hagåtña], Guam), governor of Guam (1987-95).

Ada-George, Rufus (b. July 11, 1940, Geoye Ama [now in Rivers state], Nigeria), governor of Rivers (1992-93).

Adachi, Kenzo (b. Nov. 22 [Oct. 23, lunar calendar], 1864, in present Kumamoto prefecture, Japan - d. Aug. 2, 1948), home affairs minister of Japan (1926-27, 1929-31). He was also minister of communications (1925-27).

Adada, Rodolphe (b. April 28, 1946, Gamboma, Middle Congo [now Congo (Brazzaville)]), foreign minister of Congo (Brazzaville) (1997-2007). He has also been minister of scientific research (1976-77), mines and energy (1977-84, 1985-88), mines and petroleum (1984-85), secondary and higher education (1988-91), industrial development and the promotion of the private sector (2009-12), and transport, civil aviation, and the merchant marine (2012-16), joint UN and African Union special representative for Darfur (2007-09), and ambassador to France (2016- ).

Adair, Arthur Robin (b. Feb. 10, 1913 - d. Dec. 26, 1981), high commissioner of Brunei (1968-72).

Adair, John (b. Jan. 9, 1757, Chester county, S.C. - d. May 19, 1840, Harrodsburg, Ky.), governor of Kentucky (1820-24).

Adala, Ochieng, Kenyan diplomat. He was high commissioner to Zambia (1977-83), ambassador to Egypt (1984-88), and permanent representative to the United Nations (1992-93).

Adalan, (Hasan) Sevket (b. 1901, Smyrna, Ottoman Empire [now Izmir, Turkey] - d. Nov. 2, 1989, Izmir), finance minister of Turkey (1948-49). He was also minister of agriculture (1947), customs and monopolies (1947-48), and public works (1949-50).

Adam, André (b. Sept. 10, 1936, Etterbeek [now in Brussels-Capital region], Belgium - d. [bombing attack] March 22, 2016, Zaventem airport, near Brussels), Belgian diplomat. He was ambassador to Algeria (1986-90), Zaire (1990-91), and the United States (1994-98) and permanent representative to the United Nations (1998-2001).

Adam, James N(oble) (b. March 1, 1842, Peebles, Scotland - d. Feb. 9, 1912, Buffalo, N.Y.), mayor of Buffalo (1906-09).


J.-P. Adam
Adam, Jean-Paul (b. June 12, 1977, Brighton, England), foreign minister (2010-15) and finance minister (2015-16) of Seychelles. He was also minister of health and social affairs (2016-20).

Adam, Pascal Pierre Marie Georges (b. July 5, 1865, Montpezat-de-Quercy, Tarn-et-Garonne, France - d. Aug. 5, 1916, Toulouse, France), acting lieutenant-governor of Gabon (1909, 1912-14) and lieutenant governor of Oubangui-Chari-Tchad (1910-11, 1913-16).

Adam, William Patrick (b. Sept. 14, 1823, Ancrum, Roxburghshire, Scotland - d. May 24, 1881, Ootacamund, Madras [now Udhagamandalam, Tamil Nadu], India), governor of Madras (1880-81).

Adam Bokros, Verona (b. 1948, Ada, Vojvodina, Serbia), president of the Assembly of Vojvodina (1991).

Adam (bin Abdul) Kadir, Tan Sri (b. July 20, 1942, Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu [now in Malaysia]), Malaysian politician. He was president of the Dewan Negara (1995-96). He was awarded the titles Dato' (1993), Tan Sri (2004), and Dato' Sri (2006).

Adama-Tamboux, Michel (b. Dec. 3, 1928, Zemio, eastern Oubangui-Chari [now Central African Republic] - d. March 18, 2018, Bangui, Central African Republic), Central African Republic politician. He was president of the National Assembly (1960-66), permanent representative to the United Nations (1970-74), and ambassador to Egypt (1974-79).


Adamec
Adamec, Ladislav (b. Sept. 10, 1926, Frenstát, Czechoslovakia [now in Czech Republic] - d. April 14, 2007, Prague, Czech Republic), prime minister of the Czech Socialist Republic (1987-88) and of Czechoslovakia (1988-89) and general secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (1989-90). He was also a deputy premier of Czechoslovakia (1987-88).

Adamia, Revaz (b. July 20, 1952, Tbilisi, Georgian S.S.R.), Georgian diplomat. He was permanent representative to the United Nations (2002-06).

Adamishin, Anatoly (Leonidovich) (b. Oct. 11, 1934, Kiev, Ukrainian S.S.R.), Russian minister of cooperation with the Commonwealth of Independent States (1997-98). He was also Soviet/Russian ambassador to Italy (1990-92) and the United Kingdom (1994-97).


Adamkus
Adamkus, Valdas (Voldemaras), original surname Adamkavicius (b. Nov. 3, 1926, Kaunas, Lithuania), president of Lithuania (1998-2003, 2004-09). During World War II he joined the resistance movement for Lithuania's independence and published the underground newspaper Jaunime, budek! ("Youth, Be on Guard!") before fleeing in 1944 to Germany. In 1949 he immigrated with his family to the United States. Adamkus was active in émigré politics in the 1950s and '60s, promoting Lithuanian independence and cultural heritage and achieving high positions in such organizations as the liberal Santara-Sviesa ("Accord-Light"), the Lithuanian Community in America, and the American Lithuanian Council. He began a career with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) upon its inception in 1970, and in 1971 he was picked to be the deputy regional administrator of Region V, in the Midwest. Ten years later he was appointed to the position of regional administrator. He was granted Lithuanian citizenship in 1992, the year after the Soviet Union dissolved, but continued to spend most of his time in the United States until early 1997. He then fought a lengthy court battle to be allowed on the ballot in the Lithuanian presidential elections. He placed a distant second behind Arturas Paulauskas in the first round of voting Dec. 21, 1997, but Paulauskas did not receive the majority necessary to win outright. After parliament speaker Vytautas Landsbergis, the leading figure of Lithuania's independence drive, threw his support behind Adamkus, he was able to edge out Paulauskas in the Jan. 4, 1998, runoff. Adamkus's margin of victory was just 14,256 votes, less than 1% of those cast. As president, he gave up his U.S. citizenship. He was defeated for reelection in 2003 by Rolandas Paksas, but was elected in 2004 following the impeachment of Paksas.

Adamo Matéta, Luc Daniel (b. 1949), Congo (Brazzaville) politician. He was minister of budget and coordination of financial administrations (1997) and a minor presidential candidate (2002).

Adamon, Grâce (Antonia) d'Almeida (Benoîte) (b. March 21, 1951, Dakar, Senegal - d. May 12, 2005, Paris, France), justice minister of Benin (1995-96).

Adamovich, Iosif (Aleksandrovich) (b. Dec. 26, 1896, Borisov, Minsk province, Russia [now in Belarus] - d. [shot himself] April 22, 1937, in the train Vladivostok-Moscow, Russian S.F.S.R.), chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Belorussian S.S.R. (1924-27).

Adams, Alva (b. May 14, 1850, Iowa county, Wis. - d. Nov. 1, 1922, Battle Creek, Mich.), governor of Colorado (1887-89, 1897-99, 1905).


B. Adams
Adams, Brock(man) (b. Jan. 13, 1927, Atlanta, Ga. - d. Sept. 10, 2004, Stevensville, Md.), U.S. secretary of transportation (1977-79). A former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, he was elected to Congress in 1964 and rose to chairman of the Budget Committee before accepting Pres. Jimmy Carter's offer to become head of the Transportation Department. He served only two years in the cabinet, but made a successful comeback to politics in 1986 when he defeated Republican Sen. Slade Gorton in a closely contested race. He declined to seek reelection in 1992 after eight women told the Seattle Times that Adams had harassed them. Adams denied the allegations.

Adams, Byron Stanley Mitchell (b. Oct. 1, 1847, Pitcairn Island - d. Sept. 9, 1902, Norfolk Island), chief magistrate of Norfolk Island (1891-92, 1895-96); grandson of George Adams.

Adams, Charles Francis (b. Aug. 18, 1807, Boston, Mass. - d. Nov. 21, 1886, Boston), U.S. diplomat; son of John Quincy Adams; brother-in-law of Edward Everett. He was minister to the United Kingdom (1861-68).

Adams, Charles Francis (b. May 27, 1835, Boston, Mass. - d. March 20, 1915, Washington, D.C.), president of the American Historical Association (1901); son of Charles Francis Adams (1807-1886).

Adams, Charles Francis (b. Aug. 2, 1866, Quincy, Mass. - d. June 10, 1954, Boston, Mass.), U.S. secretary of the navy (1929-33); nephew of Charles Francis Adams (1835-1915); great-grandson of John Quincy Adams.

Adams, Charles Kendall (b. Jan. 24, 1835, Derby, Vt. - d. July 26, 1902, Redlands, Calif.), president of the American Historical Association (1889).

Adams, Eric (Leroy) (b. Sept. 1, 1960, Brooklyn, New York City), borough president of Brooklyn (2014-21) and mayor of New York City (2022- ).


E. Adams
Adams, Eva (Bertrand) (b. 1908, Wonder, Nev. - d. Aug. 23, 1991, Reno, Nev.), director of the U.S. Mint (1961-69).

Adams, Gabriel (b. 1790 - d. June 4, 1864, Lower St. Clair Township [now part of Pittsburgh], Pa.), mayor of Pittsburgh (1847-49).

Adams, George (b. June 6, 1804, Pitcairn Island - d. Jan. 29, 1873, Norfolk Island), chief magistrate of Pitcairn Island (1848); son of John Adams (1767-1829).


G.A. Adams
Adams, George A. (b. June 4, 1849, Morgan Town, Ind. - d. May 2, 1936, Lincoln, Neb.), mayor of Lincoln (1903-05).

Adams, George Burton (b. June 3, 1851, Fairfield, Vt. - d. May 26, 1925), president of the American Historical Association (1908).


Gerry Adams
Adams, Gerry, byname of Gerard Adams (b. Oct. 6, 1948, Belfast, Northern Ireland), Northern Ireland political leader. He was born into a prominent Irish nationalist family with ties to the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Although he denied being a member of the IRA, it was widely believed that by 1972 he had become a member of the IRA's army council and its commander in Belfast. He was one of the first people to be imprisoned when the British government introduced internment without trial for suspected terrorists. During the course of his three years' imprisonment (1973-76), he collected his sole criminal conviction: for attempting to escape. Elected as president of Sinn Féin, the IRA's political wing, in 1983, he was also elected an MP from West Belfast during the same year, but he refused to take the oath of allegiance and never took his seat. (He lost his seat in 1992 but regained it in 1997.) As an MP, he was frequently invited to condemn violence, but he always refused. He was barred from British radio and TV under the terms of an exclusion order and broadcasting ban (but his statements could be read on the air by actors). In 1991, he started shifting Sinn Féin's strategy toward negotiation. He began a series of secret negotiations with John Hume, the leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, which had always opposed violence and the IRA. In 1994 Adams stepped up his campaign to win international respect. Finally came the announcement of a ceasefire (Aug. 31, 1994). Within three weeks the broadcasting ban had been ended; within seven weeks the exclusion order had been lifted. In April 1998 he supported the Good Friday Agreement on power-sharing self-government for the province, and in June he was elected to the new Northern Ireland Assembly. In 2011 he resigned his House of Commons seat to run for the Irish parliament, being elected in Louth. In 2014 he was arrested by Northern Ireland police in connection with a 1972 IRA murder, but released after a few days.


G.H. Adams
Adams, Sir Grantley Herbert (b. April 28, 1898, Colliston, Government Hill, Barbados - d. Nov. 28, 1971, Bridgetown, Barbados), premier of Barbados (1954-58) and prime minister of the Federation of the West Indies (1958-62). He was elected to the House of Assembly in 1934. His influence grew as he became spokesman for impoverished workers on the island's sugar plantations. In 1937 he led them in a strike, and the next year founded the Barbados Progressive League (from 1944 Barbados Labour Party). In 1941, by then a member of the Assembly's Executive Committee, he founded the Barbados Workers Union. His campaign for franchise reform won important successes in 1944 when income qualifications were lowered and women were permitted to vote. In 1946 the gradual move toward parliamentary government gave him the right, as head of the majority Labour Party in the Assembly, to appoint four members of the Executive Committee. In 1950, universal adult suffrage tripled the number of voters and Labour won 16 of 24 Assembly seats. As a member of the U.K. delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, he defended British colonial policies against Soviet-bloc attacks. When ministerial government was introduced in 1954, he became the first premier of Barbados. He was knighted in 1957 and emerged as a major leader of the British Caribbean colonies when he became prime minister of the new Federation of the West Indies in 1958. His career proved short-lived thereafter; Jamaica, one of the largest members of the federation, announced in 1961 that it was withdrawing to become separately independent. Over Sir Grantley's protest, the British government dissolved the federation in 1962. He continued to lead the Barbados Labour Party until he retired in 1970.


H. Adams
Adams, Henry (Brooks) (b. Feb. 16, 1838, Boston, Mass. - d. March 27, 1918, Washington, D.C.), president of the American Historical Association (1893-94); brother of Charles Francis Adams (1835-1915); grandson of John Quincy Adams.


J.M.G. Adams
Adams, J(ohn) M(ichael) G(eoffrey Manningham), byname Tom Adams (b. Sept. 24, 1931, Spooners Hill, Barbados - d. March 11, 1985, Bridgetown, Barbados), prime minister of Barbados (1976-85); son of Sir Grantley Herbert Adams. He combined legal practice with political activity in the Barbados Labour Party, which he led from 1971, restoring the party's fortunes after the electoral disaster of that year and taking it to victory in 1976. He became prime minister and minister of finance and planning. His economic austerity measures proved successful, and his party was returned to office in 1981. A moderate politician, he concentrated on improving education and social services and on building new roads as well as encouraging the development of industry. He was one of the Caribbean leaders who became concerned about the gradual radicalization in Grenada after Maurice Bishop and his New Jewel Movement seized power there in 1979. In October 1983 he won the assent of the parliamentary opposition for his call to the U.S. and Jamaica to assist and maintain the security of the region and for his subsequent support for the U.S. military intervention. On October 25, a few days after Bishop was killed by radical rivals, U.S. troops landed in Grenada, with a few hundred soldiers from several Caribbean nations playing a minor role in the assault. Adams died in office.

Adams, James H(opkins) (b. March 15, 1812, Minervaville, S.C. - d. July 13, 1861, Columbia, S.C.), governor of South Carolina (1854-56).

Adams, Jewett W(illiams) (b. Aug. 6, 1835, South Hero Island, Vt. - d. June 18, 1920, San Francisco, Calif.), governor of Nevada (1883-87).


J. Adams
Adams, John (b. Oct. 30 [Oct. 19, O.S.], 1735, Braintree [in present Quincy], Massachusetts - d. July 4, 1826, Quincy, Mass.), vice president (1789-97) and president (1797-1801) of the United States. He was a delegate from Massachusetts to the First and Second Continental Congresses, the first federal legislature of the 13 colonies. In June 1775, he nominated George Washington of Virginia to be commander in chief of the almost nonexistent army, a move that he hoped would gain Virginia's support for the revolutionary policies. On June 11, 1776, he was appointed to serve on a committee to draft a declaration of independence. The declaration was written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, but it was mainly Adams who defended it on the floor of Congress. As president of the Board of War and Ordnance for nearly a year (1776-77), Adams attempted to equip the army. Late in 1777, he was named by Congress to serve with Benjamin Franklin as a joint commissioner to France, replacing Silas Deane, whose loyalty to the revolutionary cause had been called into question. In France Adams learned that Franklin had already successfully concluded a French alliance, and later, when the joint American commission in France was dissolved, he returned home, leaving Franklin in sole charge. In 1785 he was made the first U.S. minister to the court of St. James's and moved to England. While Washington received 69 electoral votes in the presidential election of 1789, Adams received 34, the second largest number, and was thus declared vice president. In the first really contested presidential election, in 1796, he narrowly won a majority with 71 votes, against 68 for Jefferson. By long negotiations he brought the undeclared "quasi-war" with France to an end. He was defeated for reelection in 1800, receiving 65 votes, while Jefferson and Aaron Burr got 73 each.

Adams, John (baptized Dec. 4, 1767, Hackney, Middlesex [now part of London], England - d. March 5, 1829, Pitcairn Island), leader of Pitcairn Island (1800-29). He signed on board the Bounty using the assumed name of Alexander Smith. He returned to the use of his real name after the 1789 mutiny against Captain William Bligh, in which he took part. With Fletcher Christian and seven other mutineers he founded a colony on Pitcairn Island, succeeding to the leadership after the deaths of Christian in 1793 and of Edward Young in 1800. When the island was first visited in 1808 by the U.S. sealer Topaz, Adams was the sole European survivor (most of the mutineers had been killed by their Tahitian companions in 1794). Revered as the patriarch of the Pitcairn settlement, he was given a royal pardon for his part in the mutiny.


J.Q. Adams
Adams, John Quincy (b. July 11, 1767, Braintree [in present Quincy], Massachusetts - d. Feb. 23, 1848, Washington, D.C.), president of the United States (1825-29); son of John Adams (1735-1826). He was appointed U.S. minister to the Netherlands in 1794. In 1796 he was appointed minister to Portugal, but before taking up this appointment his father became president and appointed him minister to Prussia instead. Recalled by President Adams after the election of Thomas Jefferson to the presidency in 1800, John Quincy returned to Boston in 1801 and in 1802 was elected to the Massachusetts Senate. In 1803 the Massachusetts legislature elected him to the U.S. Senate; he resigned in 1808. In 1809 Pres. James Madison appointed Adams minister to Russia, and in 1815 he became minister to Great Britain. He returned to the U.S. in 1817 to become secretary of state under Pres. James Monroe. In 1819 he succeeded in getting the Spanish minister to agree to the Transcontinental Treaty by which Spain would abandon all claims to territory east of the Mississippi, while the U.S. would relinquish all claim to what is now Texas. With England he arranged for the joint occupation of the Oregon country, and he formulated with the president the Monroe Doctrine. In the 1824 presidential election, no candidate had a majority in the electoral college, and the decision fell to the House of Representatives. Andrew Jackson had received the most votes, but the House chose Adams, when third candidate James Clay threw his support to him. Adams then made Clay secretary of state. The charge of a "corrupt bargain" followed, and a lasting feud was created between Adams and Jackson. In 1828 Jackson was elected president over Adams. After a temporary retirement Adams served in the House of Representatives from 1831 until his death.

Adams, John T(aylor) (b. Dec. 22, 1862, Dubuque, Iowa - d. Oct. 28, 1939, Dubuque), chairman of the Republican National Committee (1921-24).

Adams, Jüri (b. Nov. 22, 1947, Tartu, Estonian S.S.R.), justice minister of Estonia (1994-95).

Adams, Robert McCormick (b. 1926, Chicago, Ill.), secretary of the Smithsonian Institution (1984-94).

Adams, Robin (Eleanor), during former marriage (1966-96) Robin Graham, mayor of Norfolk Island (2016-21). She was also speaker of the Legislative Assembly (2010-13) and minister of cultural heritage and community services (2013-15).

Adams, Rosalie (Louise), acting governor of the British Virgin Islands (2017). She was deputy governor in 2016-18.

Adams, Sam (b. Sept. 3, 1963, Butte, Mont.), mayor of Portland (2009-12). His taking office made Portland the largest U.S. city with an openly gay mayor (until surpassed by Houston in 2010).


Samuel Adams
Adams, Samuel (b. Sept. 27 [Sept. 16, O.S.], 1722, Boston, Massachusetts - d. Oct. 2, 1803, Boston), U.S. politician; second cousin of John Adams. In 1764 he entered politics full-time and was elected to the Massachusetts legislature. He eventually committed himself to American independence, one of the first American leaders to deny Britain's authority over the colonies. He was a vocal opponent of several laws passed by the British Parliament to raise revenue in the American colonies, including the Tea Act which gave a British trading company a monopoly on the import of tea into the colonies. This opposition reached its peak on Dec. 16, 1773, when a group of Bostonians dumped a British cargo of tea into the harbour. Although Adams did not participate himself in this "Boston Tea Party," he was undoubtedly one of its planners. In 1774 the Massachusetts legislature sent him and four others as its representatives to the Continental Congress; he was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was also a member of the convention that framed the Massachusetts constitution of 1780 and sat in the convention of his state that ratified the Federal Constitution. He at first opposed the constitution for fear that it would vest too much power in the federal government, but he finally supported its ratification when the Federalists promised to support a number of future amendments, including a bill of rights. He was defeated in the first congressional election. He was lieutenant governor (1789-93) and governor (1794-97) of Massachusetts. When national parties developed, he affiliated himself with the Democratic Republicans, the forerunner of the Democratic Party. After being defeated as a presidential elector favouring Thomas Jefferson in 1796, he retired to private life.

Adams, Samuel (b. June 5, 1805, Halifax county, Va. - d. Feb. 27, 1850, Saline county, Ark.), acting governor of Arkansas (1844).


Sherman Adams
Adams, (Llewellyn) Sherman (b. Jan. 8, 1899, East Dover, Vt. - d. Oct. 27, 1986, Hanover, N.H.), U.S. politician. Entering politics as a Republican, he was a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives (1941-44), representative from New Hampshire to the U.S. Congress (1945-47), and governor of New Hampshire (1949-53). As assistant to Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower from the latter's first inauguration Jan. 20, 1953, he became one of the most powerful figures in the administration. In 1958 Adams became embroiled in a congressional investigation of alleged attempts by high government officials to influence the decisions of federal regulatory agencies. The first direct charge was made on February 11 by Bernard Schwartz, then chief counsel of the special house subcommittee on legislative oversight. Schwartz named Adams as one of the "White House clique... controlling decisions" of various independent federal agencies such as the Civil Aeronautics Board and the Federal Communications Commission. In June, Bernard Goldfine, Boston businessman and long a friend of Adams, came under the subcommittee's investigation. Adams, appearing before the subcommittee on June 17, conceded that he might have acted "more prudently" in making inquiries of the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission in matters involving Goldfine; he had also admitted earlier that Goldfine had paid $2,000 in hotel bills for him. Goldfine, testifying on July 2, denied that Adams had intervened for him, or had been asked to. Nevertheless there was a demand among Republicans for his resignation, renewed after the Republican defeat in the Maine elections of Sept. 8, 1958. On September 22 Adams announced his resignation.

Adams, Tom: see Adams, J.M.G.

Adams, William (Gilbert) (b. June 17, 1923, St. John's, Newfoundland - d. Nov. 12, 2005, St. John's), mayor of St. John's (1966-73).


W.H. Adams

Adamson
Adams, William H(erbert) (b. Feb. 15, 1861, Blue Mounds, Wis. - d. Feb. 3, 1954, Alamosa, Colo.), governor of Colorado (1927-33); brother of Alva Adams.

Adamson, Frances (Jennifer) (b. April 20, 1961, Adelaide, S.Aus.), governor of South Australia (2021- ). She was also Australian ambassador to China (2011-15).

Adamson, Sir Harvey (b. Oct. 7, 1854 - d. March 28, 1941), lieutenant governor of Burma (1910-15); knighted 1906.

Adamsons, Janis (b. Nov. 3, 1956, Preili, Latvian S.S.R.), interior minister of Latvia (1994-95).

Adamu, (Alhaji) Abdullahi (b. July 6, 1945, Keffi [now in Nasarawa state], Nigeria), governor of Nasarawa (1999-2007).


Adan

Adderley

Addiego
Adan, Fowsiyo Yusuf Haji, Somali Fowsiyo Yuusuf Xaaji Aadan, deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Somalia (2012-14).

Adandé, Alexandre (Sènou) (b. May 7, 1912, Porto-Novo, Dahomey [now Benin] - d. April 8, 1993, Cotonou, Benin), finance minister of Dahomey (1960-62). He was also minister of agriculture (1958-59), rural development (1962-63), and justice (1964-65).

Adasu, Moses (Orshio) (b. June 12, 1945, Awajir village [now in Benue state], Nigeria - d. Nov. 20, 2005, Lagos, Nigeria), governor of Benue (1992-93).

Adderley, Paul (Lawrence) (b. Aug. 15, 1928, Nassau, Bahamas - d. Sept. 19, 2012, Nassau), foreign minister (1973-84), finance minister (1990-92), and acting governor-general (2005-06) of The Bahamas. He was also attorney general (1973-89) and minister of education (1984-89) and national security (1989-90).

Addiego Bruno, Rafael (José) (b. Feb. 23, 1923, Salto, Uruguay - d. Feb. 20, 2014), acting president of Uruguay (1985). He was president of the Supreme Court of Justice (1984-93).

Addis, Sir William (b. Sept. 5, 1901, Hakone, Japan - d. Nov. 19, 1978), acting governor of Bermuda (1945-46) and governor of the Seychelles (1953-58); knighted 1955.

Addison, Henry, mayor of Georgetown (1845-57, 1861-67).

Addison, Joseph (b. May 1, 1672, Milston, Wiltshire, England - d. June 17, 1719, London, England), British secretary of state for the Southern Department (1717-18). He was also a noted writer.

Addo-Kufuor, Kwame (b. July 14, 1940, Kumasi, Gold Coast [now in Ghana]), defense minister (2001-07) and interior minister (2008-09) of Ghana; brother of John Agyekum Kufuor.


Addou

Addouh
Addou, Abdullahi Ahmed, Somali Cabdillahi Axmed Caddow (b. May 15, 1936, Brava, Lower Shabelle region, Somalia), Somali politician. He served as ambassador to the United States (1970-80, 1986-88) and finance minister (1980-84) and was a presidential candidate in 2000 and 2004.

Addouh, Khatri, acting president of the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic (2016). He has been president of the Sahrawi National Council (2010-20) and minister of education and vocational training (2023- ).


D. Adeang
Adeang, David (Ranibok Waiau) (b. Nov. 24, 1969), finance minister (2003, 2004-07, 2011-12, 2013-19, 2023- ), foreign minister (2004-07), and president (2023- ) of Nauru; son of Kennan Adeang. He has also been minister of island development, industry, and telecommunications (2003), customs and internal affairs (2004-07), sustainable development and justice (2011-12, 2013-19), and public service and multicultural affairs (2023- ), minister assisting the president (2003, 2004-07, 2013-19), and speaker of parliament (2004, 2008).

Adeang, Kennan (Ranibok) (b. Dec. 23, 1942 - d. Dec. 26, 2011), president (1986, 1986, 1996) and finance minister (1989) of Nauru. He was also minister of justice (1989-90) and education (1995-96), speaker of parliament (1997-99), and high commissioner to Fiji (2007-08).

Adebayo, Cornelius (Olatunji) (b. Feb. 24, 1941, Igbaja [now in Kwara state], Nigeria), governor of Kwara (1983). He was also Nigerian minister of communications (2003-06) and works (2006-07).

Adebayo, Niyi, byname of Otunba Richard Adeniyi Adebayo (b. Feb. 4, 1958), governor of Ekiti (1999-2003).

Adebo, S(imeon) O(laosebikan) (b. Oct. 5, 1913, near Abeokuta, Nigeria - d. Sept. 30, 1994, Abeokuta), Nigerian diplomat. He was permanent representative to the United Nations (1962-68).

Adechi, Joel Wassi (b. 1949, Dakar, Senegal), Beninese diplomat. He was permanent representative to the United Nations (1999-2005).

Adee, Alvey A(ugustus) (b. Nov. 27, 1842, Astoria, N.Y. - d. July 4, 1924, Washington, D.C.), acting U.S. secretary of state (1898).


Adeeb
Adeeb (Abdul Gafoor), Ahmed (b. April 11, 1982, Male, Maldives), vice president of Maldives (2015). He was also minister of tourism, arts, and culture (2012-15). In October 2015 he was arrested in connection with an alleged attempt to blow up President Abdulla Yameen in a speedboat bombing; in November he became the second person in four months to be removed from the vice presidency. In June 2016 he was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Adeel, Omar Abdel Hamid (b. July 27, 1923, Dongola, Sudan), Sudanese diplomat. He was ambassador to Italy (1956-59) and permanent representative to the United Nations (1959-64).

Adefarasin, (Joseph) Adetunji (b. 1921 - d. March 28, 1989), president of the League of Red Cross Societies (1977-81). He was the president of the Nigerian Red Cross Society from 1974 to his death.

Adefarati, Adebayo (b. Feb. 14, 1931, Akungba-Akoko [now in Ondo state], Nigeria - d. March 29, 2007, Owo, Ondo), governor of Ondo (1999-2003). He was a presidential candidate in 2007 but died before the election.


Adefope

A. Adeleke

Adeleye
Adefope, Henry (Edmund Olufemi) (b. March 15, 1926, Kaduna, Nigeria - d. March 11, 2012, Lagos, Nigeria), foreign minister of Nigeria (1978-79). He was also minister of labour (1975-78).

Adeleke, Ademola (Jackson Nurudeen) (b. May 13, 1960, Enugu, Nigeria), governor of Osun (2022- ); brother of Isiaka Adeleke.

Adeleke, Isiaka (Adetunji) (b. Jan. 15, 1955 - d. April 23, 2017, Oshogbo, Osun, Nigeria), governor of Osun (1992-93).

Adeleye, Ernest (Olawunmi) (b. 1942), governor of Rivers (1988-90).


Adelsohn
Adelsohn, Ulf (b. Oct. 4, 1941, Stockholm, Sweden), governor of Stockholm (1992-2001). He was also Swedish minister of communications (1979-81) and leader of the Moderate Party (1981-86).

Adelswärd, (Axel) Theodor (b. Oct. 13, 1860, Hyltinge socken, Södermanland, Sweden - d. Sept. 29, 1929), finance minister of Sweden (1911-14).

Ademi, Abdilakim, Albanian Abdilaqim Ademi (b. Dec. 20, 1969, Jegunovce, near Tetovo, Macedonia [now North Macedonia] - d. Feb. 16, 2018), a deputy prime minister of Macedonia (2008-11). He was also minister of environment and physical planning (2011-14) and education and science (2014-16).

Aden, Abdulkadir Muhammad (Somali Cabdiqaadir Maxamed Aadan), byname Zoppo (an Italian word meaning lame) (b. November 1919, Bulo Burti, Hiran region, central Somalia - d. June 24, 2002, Rome, Italy), Somali politician. He joined the Somali Youth Club in Mogadishu in 1944 and helped the transformation of the club into a political party, the Somali Youth League (SYL), in 1947. He served on its central committee, but when it aligned with the Italians with the beginning of their trusteeship administration, he joined the Hizbiya Digil-Mirifle (HDM), the Digil-Mirifle party. After the assassination of Ustath Usman, president of the HDM, in 1954, Zoppo became its secretary-general and worked to transform it into a national party, the Hizbiya Dastur Mustaqil al-Sumal (HDMS) or Somali Independent Constitutional Party, in 1957. He was elected member of the Legislative Assembly in 1956, was reelected in 1959, and served as vice president of the National Assembly from May 1959 to July 1960, when he became minister of finance in the first government of the Somali Republic. In 1964, he was reelected for the SYL at Bur Hakaba, and became interior minister (to 1967). For the 1968 election he co-founded with former prime minister Abdirizak Haji Hussein a new party, the Dabka Flame, but he was not returned. During the military regime, he retired from politics. However, in the late 1980s he joined the growing opposition to Pres. Muhammad Siad Barre and represented the Somali Democratic Movement in major peace and reconciliation conferences. Zoppo was elected vice president of the interim Somali government at the Djibouti conference of June-July 1991, and co-chairman of the National Salvation Council, the transitional national government formed at Sodere in 1997.

Aden, Ahmed Muhammad (Somali Axmed Maxamed Aadan), byname Qaybe (b. 1930, Aden [now in Yemen] - d. Nov. 26, 2013, Hargeysa, Somaliland), foreign minister of Somalia (1990-91). He was also ambassador to the Soviet Union (1961-65, 1970-75), the United States (1965-68), and the United Kingdom (1975-80), permanent representative to the United Nations (1980-84), and speaker of the House of Representatives of Somaliland (1997-2005).


Adenauer
Adenauer, Konrad (Hermann Joseph) (b. Jan. 5, 1876, Cologne, Germany - d. April 19, 1967, Rhöndorf, Bad Honnef, Nordrhein-Westfalen, West Germany), chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (1949-63). In 1912 he was chosen deputy lord mayor of Cologne and in 1917 he was elected to a 12-year term as lord mayor. He became a prominent member of the (Catholic) Centre Party and was reelected lord mayor in 1929. In 1921 he was also elected president of the Prussian State Council. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Adenauer lost all his offices. He was imprisoned in a roundup of political unreliables in 1944. At the end of World War II the U.S. military authorities restored him as lord mayor of Cologne, but the British, who assumed control of the city in June 1945, removed him from office in October. He played an important role in the formation of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and in 1946 he became its chairman in the British occupation zone. In 1948 he became president of the constituent assembly which wrote a provisional constitution for the intended Federal Republic. In 1949 he became chairman of the CDU for the whole of West Germany; and in the first general elections under the new regime, his party and its regular ally, the Christian Social Union (CSU), edged out the Social Democrats as the strongest party in the Bundestag (federal parliament). He formed a coalition with the Free Democrats and on Sept. 15, 1949, the Bundestag elected him chancellor. He energetically supported German rearmament and NATO membership, and strove toward reconciliation with France and European unity. When in 1951 a German Foreign Office was established, Adenauer also became foreign minister, a post he held until 1955. Rivalries within the CDU forced him to resign as chancellor in 1963, but he remained party chairman until 1966.

Adeng, Cecilia (Adout Majok), South Sudanese diplomat. She has been permanent representative to the United Nations (2024- ).

Adenihun, Sunday (Ajibade Abiodun Akweisi Asola) (b. March 12, 1939, Aduasa, Gold Coast [now in Ghana] - d. Nov. 25, 2008, Los Angeles, Calif.), administrator of Imo (1978-79).


Adeniji
Adeniji, Oluyemi (b. July 22, 1934, Ijebu-Ode [now in Ogun state], Nigeria - d. Nov. 26, 2017, London, England), foreign minister (2003-06) and internal affairs minister (2006-07) of Nigeria. He was also ambassador to Austria (1976-77), Switzerland (1977-81), and France (1987-91) and the UN secretary-general's special representative in the Central African Republic (1998-99) and Sierra Leone (1999-2003).


Áder
Áder, János (b. May 9, 1959, Csorna, Hungary), president of Hungary (2012-22). He was also president of the National Assembly (1998-2002). He was chairman (2002-03) and parliamentary leader (2002-06) of the Fidesz party.

Adesina, Lam(idi Onaolapo Aremu) (b. Jan. 20, 1939, Ibadan [now in Oyo state], Nigeria - d. Nov. 11, 2012), governor of Oyo (1999-2003).

Adett Zamora, Mario (b. 1926?), interior and justice minister of Bolivia (1971-73).

Adeusi, Joseph (Adeduro) (b. 1939? - d. April 16, 2016), administrator of Akwa Ibom (1996-98).

Adhikari, Bharat Mohan (b. May 1936, Bhavarpurna Gaon, Mahottari district, Nepal - d. March 2, 2019, Kathmandu, Nepal), finance minister of Nepal (1994-95, 1998-99, 2004-05, 2011); brother of Man Mohan Adhikari. He was also minister of construction and transport (1997) and law and justice (1997, 1998-99) and deputy prime minister (2004-05, 2011).

Adhikari, Khagraj, also spelled Khagaraj, home affairs minister of Nepal (2021). He was also minister of health and population (2014-15) and chief minister of Gandaki province (2023, 2024).


M.M. Adhikari
Adhikari, Man Mohan (b. June 20, 1920, Lazimpat, Kathmandu, Nepal - d. April 26, 1999, Kathmandu), prime minister of Nepal (1994-95). He was elected general secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal in 1953 and remained its head until it merged with another Communist group to become the Nepal Communist Party-United Marxist and Leninist in 1990. He was elected its chairman the same year. He was part of a popular movement that stripped King Birendra of absolute power and turned him into a constitutional monarch. Nepal became a multi-party democracy in 1990. He was elected to Nepal's lower house of parliament twice, in 1991 and 1994. In the 1994 elections, he led his party to the top position in the 205-seat parliament. But his party secured only 85 seats, 18 short of a majority. He became prime minister in November 1994. But his minority government was ousted in a vote of confidence nine months later. He was best known for his grass-roots approach to development. He began the "make your own village" programme in which people who had flooded the cities in search of jobs were encouraged to return to their villages to work at the local level. His anti-corruption drive within his administration and his fight against nepotism made him popular with the public. He also worked for the welfare of the elderly and announced an allowance for citizens over 75. In his short term in office, he visited both China and India, balancing ties with Nepal's two giant neighbors. Though a respected national leader, he could not prevent a split in his own party in 1998 that reduced it to half its strength. He was fighting for its revival in the May 3, 1999, general elections which he was contesting from Kathmandu as his party's prime ministerial candidate, but died during the campaign.

Adhikari, Sewa Lamsal, Nepalese diplomat. She has been chargé d'affaires at the United Nations (2012-13), ambassador to Pakistan (2016-20), and foreign secretary (2023- ).


Adhin
Adhin, (Michael) Ashwin (Satyandre) (b. June 10, 1980), vice president of Suriname (2015-20).

Adil Bey (b. 1865 - d. 1932), interior minister of the Ottoman Empire (1909, 1919); son of Tascizade Mehmed Tevfik Pasha.

Adilbish, Dashiyn (b. 1917, in present Övörkhangai province, Mongolia - d. 1993), foreign minister of Mongolia (1956-57). He was also ambassador to the Soviet Union and Czechoslovkia (1953-56) and India (1962-63).

Ading, Jack (J.) (b. Sept. 1, 1960, Ujelang Atoll, Marshall Islands), finance minister (2008-12, 2014-16), justice minister (2018-20, 2022-23), and foreign minister (2023-24) of the Marshall Islands.

Adisa, Abdulkarim (b. Aug. 22, 1948, Ojo Iya area [now in Kwara state], Nigeria - d. Feb. 25, 2005), governor of Oyo (1990-92).


Adityanath
Adityanath, Yogi, original name Ajay Singh Bisht (b. June 5, 1972, Panchur, Pauri Garhwal district, Uttar Pradesh [now in Uttarakhand], India), chief minister of Uttar Pradesh (2017- ).

Adjaho, Richard (Kokou) (b. Jan. 5, 1949, Cotonou, Dahomey [now Benin] - d. Dec. 18, 2009), interior minister of Benin (1991-93). He was also minister of commerce, crafts, and tourism (1990-91), ambassador to France (1994-96), and a minor presidential candidate (2006).

Adji, Boukary (b. 1939, Tanout, Zinder département, Niger - d. July 4, 2018, Niamey, Niger), finance minister (1983-87) and prime minister (1996) of Niger.

Adji, Umar Seno (b. Dec. 5, 1915, Surakarta, Netherlands East Indies [now in Jawa Tengah, Indonesia] - d. 1984), justice minister of Indonesia (1966-74). He was also chief justice of the Supreme Court (1974-81).

Adjibadé, Tiamiou (b. July 15, 1937, Porto-Novo, Dahomey [now Benin] - d. Sept. 12, 2006), foreign minister of Benin (1982-84). He was also permanent representative to the United Nations (1973-75) and ambassador to the United States (1973-75) and West Germany (1975-81).

Adjovi (Yekpè), Paulette Marcelline (b. Jan. 16, 1955, Porto-Novo, Dahomey [now Benin]), Beninese diplomat. She has been ambassador to Nigeria (2017- ).

Adjovi, Séverin (Hinnounonboua) (b. April 29, 1950, Cotonou, Dahomey [now Benin]), defense minister of Benin (1996-98). He was also a minor presidential candidate (1991, 2006), minister of culture and communications (1998-99) and commerce, crafts, and tourism (1999-2001), and mayor of Ouidah (2008-17).

Adjoyi, (William) Koffi (b. Jan. 23, 1942, Kpalimé, Togo - d. [plane crash] June 26, 1998, near Oguédoumé village, near Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire), Togolese diplomat. He was permanent representative to the United Nations (1988-90).

Adkins, Homer M(artin) (b. Oct. 15, 1890, Little Rock, Ark. - d. Feb. 26, 1964, Malvern, Ark.), governor of Arkansas (1941-45).

Adler, Victor (b. June 24, 1852, Prague, Austria [now in Czech Republic] - d. Nov. 11, 1918, Vienna, Austria), foreign minister of Austria (1918).

Adlerberg, Graf Aleksandr (Vasilyevich) (b. Feb. 17 [Feb. 5, O.S.], 1860, St. Petersburg, Russia - d. Dec. 19 [Dec. 6, O.S.], 1915, Petrograd [St. Petersburg]), governor of Penza (1898-1903), Pskov (1903-11), and St. Petersburg/Petrograd (1911-15); grandson of Graf Vladimir Adlerberg.

Adlerberg, Graf Aleksandr (Vladimirovich) (b. May 13 [May 1, O.S.], 1818, St. Petersburg, Russia - d. Oct. 4, 1888, Munich, Germany), Russian official; son of Graf Vladimir Adlerberg. He was minister of the imperial court and imperial lands (1870-81).

Adlerberg, Graf Nikolay (Vladimirovich), Finnish transcription Nikolai Wladimirowitsch Adlerberg (b. May 31 [May 19, O.S.], 1819, St. Petersburg, Russia - d. Dec. 25, 1892, Munich, Germany), governor of Tavrida (1854-56) and governor-general of Finland (1866-81); son of Graf Vladimir Adlerberg; brother of Graf Aleksandr (Vladimirovich) Adlerberg.

Adlerberg, Graf Vladimir (Fyodorovich), until 1829 Woldemar Eduard Ferdinand von Adlerberg (b. Nov. 29 [Nov. 18, O.S.], 1791, St. Petersburg, Russia - d. March 20 [March 8, O.S.], 1884, St. Petersburg), Russian official. He was director of the department for posts (1842-57) and minister of the imperial court (1852-70) and imperial lands (1856-70). He was made Graf (count) in 1847.

Adlercreutz, Axel Gustaf (b. March 2, 1821, Skara socken, Skaraborg [now in Västra Götaland], Sweden - d. May 20, 1880, Stockholm, Sweden), prime minister for justice of Sweden (1870-74) and governor of Malmöhus (1874-80). He was also minister of civil affairs (1868-70).

Adlerfelt, Carl friherre (b. April 1719, Stockholm, Sweden - d. Jan. 20, 1769, Malmö, Sweden), governor of Malmöhus (1764-69); son of Pehr friherre Adlerfelt.

Adlerfelt, Pehr friherre (b. July 4, 1680, Stockholm, Sweden - d. [after being shot during a rebellion] June 27, 1743, Stockholm), Swedish diplomat. He was minister to Denmark (1720-25). He was made friherre (baron) in 1720.

Adlersparre, Georg greve (b. March 28, 1760, Myssjö socken, Jämtland, Sweden - d. Sept. 23, 1835, Kristinehamn, Värmland, Sweden), governor of Skaraborg (1810-24). He was made friherre (baron) in 1809 and greve (count) in 1816.

Adlersteen, Jöran friherre, original surname Piehlman (b. c. 1640, Stockholm, Sweden - d. March 10, 1713), governor of Blekinge (1706-13). He was ennobled under the name Adlersteen in 1681 and made friherre (baron) in 1707.

Adlesic, Djurdja (b. April 18, 1960, Bjelovar, Croatia), a deputy prime minister of Croatia (2008-10). She was also a minor presidential candidate (2005) and president of the Croatian Social Liberal Party (2006-09).

Adleyba, Boris (Viktorovich) (b. 1931 - d. 1990), first secretary of the Communist Party committee of the Abkhaz A.S.S.R. (1978-89).

Adli Yegen Pasha, Arabic `Adli Basha Yakan (b. Jan. 18, 1864 - d. Oct. 22, 1933, Paris, France), foreign minister (1914), interior minister (1919, 1926-27, 1929-30), prime minister (1921-22, 1926-27, 1929-30), and president of the Senate (1930) of Egypt; great-grandnephew of Muhammad `Ali Pasha.

Adnan Robert, Tun Datuk (Haji) Mohamad (b. Sept. 9, 1917, Keningau, North Borneo [now Sabah, Malaysia] - d. Aug. 2, 2003, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah), head of state of Sabah (1978-87).


Adnan Yaakob
Adnan (bin) Yaakob, Datuk Seri (Haji) (b. April 18, 1950, Bentong, Pahang, Malaya [now in Malaysia]), chief minister of Pahang (1999-2018). He received the title Dato' in 1992, Dato' Seri on Oct. 24, 1999, and Datuk Seri on Oct. 9, 2004.

Ado Bayero dan Abdullahi Bayero (b. June 15, 1930, Kano, Nigeria - d. June 6, 2014, Kano), emir of Kano (1963-2014). He was also Nigerian ambassador to Senegal (1962-63).

Adodo, Yaovi (Prosper) (b. 1942, Lomé, Togo), foreign minister of Togo (1987-91). He was also ambassador to Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg (1982-84) and minister of planning and industry (1984-87).

Adolf Fredrik (b. May 14, 1710, Gottorp castle, Schleswig [now in Schleswig city, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany] - d. Feb. 12, 1771, Stockholm, Sweden), king of Sweden (1751-71).


Adolphe
Adolphe (Guillaume Charles Auguste Frédéric), German Adolf Wilhelm August Karl Friedrich (b. July 24, 1817, Biebrich, Nassau [now in Hessen, Germany] - d. Nov. 17, 1905, Hohenberg, Württemberg [now in Baden-Württemberg], Germany), grand duke of Luxembourg (1890-1905). The son of Duke Wilhelm of Nassau-Weilburg and Charlotte of Saxe-Altenburg, he became duke of Nassau upon his father's death (1839). In 1848 he was compelled to yield to the temper of the times and to grant a more liberal constitution to Nassau, but in the following year a series of reactionary measures reduced matters to their former unsatisfactory condition. The duke adhered steadfastly to his conservative principles, while his people showed their sympathies by electing one liberal Landtag after another. In the Seven Weeks' War of 1866 (over hegemony in German affairs) he espoused the cause of Austria against Prussia, sent his troops into the field and asked the Landtag for money. This was refused, he was soon a fugitive before the Prussian troops, and upon the defeat of Austria, Nassau was formally incorporated into Prussia (Oct. 3, 1866). The deposed duke entered into a convention with Prussia by which he retained a few castles and received an indemnity of 8,500,000 thalers for renouncing his claim to Nassau (Sept. 9, 1867). He served as regent of Luxembourg for King Willem III of the Netherlands in 1889. The 1783 family pact of the House of Nassau laid down that the grand-ducal crown had to pass to the Nassau-Weilburg branch upon the death of the last male descendant in the Oranje-Nassau line. This occurred with the death of Willem III in 1890 and the personal union between Luxembourg and the Netherlands ceased. Adolphe thus became the founder of the national dynasty of Luxembourg.


Adom
Adom, Kacou Houadja Léon (b. April 16, 1950, Abengourou, Ivory Coast [now Côte d'Ivoire]), foreign minister of Côte d'Ivoire (2023- ). He was also ambassador to Israel (1997-2005), Turkey (1998-2005), and Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, and Romania (2008-17) and permanent representative to the United Nations (2018-23).


Ador
Ador, Gustave (b. Dec. 23, 1845, Geneva, Switzerland - d. March 31, 1928, Cologny, near Geneva), Swiss politician. In 1874 he entered the Great Council of Genève on an independent list; not reelected in 1876, he returned to the Great Council in 1878 and remained a member until 1915. He served as member of the Council of State of Genève (1879-80, 1885-97) and as its president (1889-90, 1891-92, 1895-96). As head of the Financial Department, he implemented an austerity policy. He was a member of the Swiss Council of States (1878-80) and then of the National Council (1889-1917, serving as its president in 1901-02). As a member of a minority parliamentary group, he needed the support of the governing parties to be elected to the Swiss federal government. Exceptional circumstances - the resignation of Arthur Hoffmann - enabled his election in June 1917 and he took over the foreign affairs (1917) and interior (1918-19) portfolios. It was hoped that Ador could restore foreign confidence and avoid the widening of domestic divisions. The political and social upheavals at the end of World War I led Switzerland to take a new direction of foreign politics, and to participate in the League of Nations. Ador was convinced by U.S. president Woodrow Wilson's ideals and wanted Switzerland to participate in the construction of peace. As president (1919), Ador went twice to Paris to meet the Allied heads of state at the peace conference. Due to his perseverance Geneva became the seat of the League of Nations and he won special recognition of the Swiss status of neutrality. He withdrew from the Federal Council at the end of 1919. A member of the International Committee of the Red Cross since 1870, he was its president from 1910 until his death in 1928. Ador remains one of the rare Swiss statesmen to have acquired an international stature.

Adosidis, Konstantinos, Turkish Kostaki Adosidis Pasha (b. 1818 - d. 1895), governor of Samos (1873-74, 1879-85) and Crete (1878).

Adoue, Jean Baptiste, Jr. (b. Nov. 4, 1884, Dallas, Texas - d. Nov. 17, 1956, Dallas), mayor of Dallas (1951-53).

Adouki, Martin (b. April 8, 1942, Makoua, Middle Congo [now Congo (Brazzaville)]), Congolese diplomat. He was permanent representative to the United Nations (1985-93).

Adoula, Cyrille (b. Sept. 13, 1921, Léopoldville, Belgian Congo [now Kinshasa, Congo (Kinshasa)] - d. May 24, 1978, Lausanne, Switzerland), Congo (Léopoldville/Kinshasa) politician. A founder (1958) of the Mouvement National Congolais, he became a senator in 1960 and was minister of the interior in the Joseph Iléo governments (1960, 1961). As prime minister (1961-64), he faced successive crises, including the attempted secession of Katanga province under Moise Tshombe. With the help of UN forces, Adoula suppressed the rebellion, but he was replaced by Tshombe in July 1964. Adoula also served as defense minister (1961-63), foreign minister (1963-64, 1969-70), and as ambassador to Belgium (1965-66) and to the United States (1966-69).

Adoum, Mahamat Ali (b. Nov. 14, 1947, Michimeré, Chad), foreign minister of Chad (1992-93). From 1983 to 1992, he served concurrently as ambassador to the United States, Canada, and Argentina. He was also permanent representative to the United Nations (1985-92, 2005-08) and ambassador to Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, and the European Community (1992). In 2014-23 he was again ambassador to Canada.

Adoum (Djerou), Mahamat Saleh (b. March 3, 1952, Iriba, Chad - d. Jan. 25, 2019, Paris, France), interior minister of Chad (1990-91). He was also ambassador to Libya (1991-92) and minister of commerce, industry, and crafts (2001-02).

Adriani (Mazzei), Alberto (Rómulo) (b. June 14, 1898, Zea, Mérida, Venezuela - d. Aug. 10, 1936, Caracas, Venezuela), finance minister of Venezuela (1936). He was also agriculture minister (1936).


Adrianzén
Adrianzén (Olaya), Gustavo (Lino) (b. Oct. 25, 1966, Cusco, Peru), justice minister (2015) and prime minister (2024- ) of Peru.

Adruce bin Mohamad Noor, Tun Datuk Patinggi Ahmad Zaidi (b. March 29, 1924, Sibu, Sarawak - d. Dec. 5, 2000, Kuala Lumpur), head of state of Sarawak (1985-2000).

Adsit, O(hlin) H(arrison) (b. Aug. 23, 1855, Vischer Perry, N.Y. - d. Aug. 9, 1909, Seattle, Wash.), mayor of Juneau (1902-04).

Aducci, Fúlvio Coriolano (b. Feb. 8, 1884, Desterro [now Florianópolis], Santa Catarina, Brazil - d. Aug. 8, 1955, Florianópolis), president of Santa Catarina (1930). He was also mayor of Florianópolis (1924-26).

Aduwo, Akintunde (Akinyoye) (b. June 9, 1938, Ode-Aye [now in Ondo state], Nigeria), governor of Western state, Nigeria (1975). He was also chief of naval staff (1980-83).

Advani, Lal Krishna (b. Nov. 8, 1927, Hyderabad, Sind, India [now in Pakistan]), home affairs minister of India (1998-2004). He joined the militant Hindu group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS; "National Volunteers Corps") and took charge of its activities in Rajasthan in 1947. When Syama Prasad Mookerjee founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS; Indian People's Association), the political wing of the RSS, in 1951, Advani became secretary of the party's unit in Rajasthan. He held that position until 1970, when he moved to the Delhi unit. In 1970-89 Advani was a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of parliament. He was elected president of the BJS in 1973, relinquishing the post when he became information and broadcasting minister (1977-79) in the government of the Janata Party headed by Morarji Desai. As minister, he repealed all anti-press legislation enacted during the period of national emergency that had been declared in 1975 and institutionalized reforms to safeguard the freedom of the media. Following the collapse of the Desai government and subsequent breakdown of the BJS, a large number of the party's members - led by Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee - formed a new political party, the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in 1980. To popularize the party and publicize its agenda, Advani undertook a series of rath yatras (political tours), traversing the country in the 1990s. The party adopted a more moderate, secular agenda in the mid-1990s, which was largely responsible for its success in the parliamentary elections in 1998 and 1999. Appointed twice as the union home minister in the BJP-led coalition government, Advani was also minister of coal and mines (2002) and personnel, public grievances, and pensions (2003-04) and deputy prime minister (2002-04). Following his party's defeat in the general elections of 2004, he became the leader of the opposition in the lower house, the Lok Sabha. He ran unsuccessfully as his party's prime ministerial candidate in the 2009 general election, thereafter stepping down as leader of the opposition and taking on a largely ceremonial role as chairman of the BJP's parliamentary wing. In 2013 he resigned from all party posts, expressing concerns about "personal agendas" of some party leaders.

Adwok (Bong Gicomeho), Luigi (b. March 24, 1929, Agodo, near Fashoda [now Kodok], Anglo-Egyptian Sudan [now in South Sudan] - d. May 21, 2010, Sahafa, Khartoum, Sudan), member of the Committee of Sovereignty of The Sudan (1964-65). A member of the Shilluk ethnic group, he was the first Southern Sudanese at the head of the Sudanese state.

Adyebo, George Cosmas (b. 1945 - d. Nov. 19, 2000, Kampala, Uganda), prime minister of Uganda (1991-94).

Adyrbekov, Ikram (Adyrbekovich) (b. July 8, 1950, Chinaz, Tashkent oblast, Uzbek S.S.R.), head of Kyzylorda oblast (2004-07). He was also Kazakh ambassador to Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia (1997-2002), Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei (2002-04), the Philippines (2004), and China, Vietnam, and North Korea (2007-11).

Adzic, Blagoje (b. Sept. 2, 1932, Pridvorice village, near Gacko, Yugoslavia [now in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina] - d. March 1, 2012, Belgrade, Serbia), chief of staff (1989-92) and acting defense minister (1992) of Yugoslavia.

Adzic, Filip (b. Sept. 15, 1986, Cetinje, Montenegro), interior minister (2022-23) and acting defense minister (2022-23) of Montenegro.


Adzynba
Adzynba, Shamil (Omarovich) (b. May 21, 1970, Batumi, Adzhar A.S.S.R., Georgian S.S.R.), acting prime minister of Abkhazia (2015, 2016).

Aeg, Raivo (b. July 4, 1962, Kuressaare, Estonian S.S.R.), justice minister of Estonia (2019-21).

Aelvoet, Magda(lena Godelieve Hilda) (b. April 4, 1944, Steenokkerzeel, Belgium), Belgian politician. She was a deputy prime minister and minister of consumer affairs, public health, and environment (1999-2002).

Afakirya, Bzigu (Lassa) (b. July 20, 1949, in present Borno state, Nigeria - d. June 22, 2015, Abuja, Nigeria), administrator of Kogi (1996-98).

Afanasenko, Yevgeny (Ivanovich) (b. April 7, 1914, near Gomel, Russia [now in Belarus] - d. March 13, 1993, Moscow, Russia), Soviet politician. He was minister of education of the Russian S.F.S.R. (1956-66) and Soviet ambassador to Rwanda (1967-72), Congo (Brazzaville) (1972-78), and São Tomé and Príncipe (1976-78).

Afanasyev, Denis (Aleksandrovich) (b. June 8, 1975, Astrakhan, Russian S.F.S.R.), chairman of the government of Astrakhan oblast (2024- ).

Afanasyev, Illarion (Afanasyevich) (b. April 5, 1905, Uskasy, Kazan province [now in Chuvashia republic], Russia - d. May 15, 1975, Voronezh, Russian S.F.S.R.), chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Chuvash A.S.S.R. (1947-55).

Afanasyev, Sergey (Aleksandrovich) (b. Aug. 30, 1918, Klin, Moscow province [now in Moscow oblast], Russia - d. May 13, 2001, Moscow, Russia), Soviet politician. He was chairman of the All-Russian Council of National Economy (1961-65), a deputy premier of the Russian S.F.S.R. (1961-65), and minister of general machine building (1965-83) and heavy and transport machine building (1983-87) of the U.S.S.R.

Aferi, Nathan Apea (b. Sept. 21, 1922, Mampong-Akwapim, Gold Coast [now in Ghana] - d. April 8, 2003, Accra, Ghana), foreign minister of Ghana (1972). He was also chief of the defense staff (1965-66), ambassador to Mexico and Venezuela and high commissioner to Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago (1966-70), high commissioner to Nigeria (1970-72), and minister of local government (1972-75).


Afewerki
Afewerki, Isaias, also spelled Afwerki or Afeworki, Tigrinya 'Isayyas 'Afawarqi, Arabic Isayas Afiwirki (b. Feb. 2, 1946, Asmara, Eritrea), president of Eritrea (1993- ). He joined the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF), which led the region's struggle for independence from Ethiopia, as a combatant in 1966. He was sent to China for training in 1967 and on his return was made a deputy division commander. In 1970 he was one of the founding members of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), which split from the ELF, and was given command of one of its fighting units. The EPLF became the dominant armed Eritrean group fighting against the Ethiopian government. Much of the materiel used to combat Ethiopia was captured from the Ethiopian army. In 1977 he became deputy secretary-general of the EPLF, and in 1987 its Second Congress elected him as secretary-general. When the regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam in Ethiopia collapsed in 1991, the EPLF entered the Eritrean capital, Asmara. Afewerki, who had shed his former Marxist ideology for moderate pragmatism, became secretary-general of a provisional government committed to preparing the country for a referendum in two years to decide Eritrea's future. The 1993 referendum resulted in an overwhelming vote for independence, and Afewerki became president. Amicable relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia began to deteriorate in 1997 and fighting erupted in May 1998 over a desolate piece of land along the border. The two-year war claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Affo, Frédéric (Assogba) (b. 1943?, Ouedeme, Dahomey [now Benin] - d. May 3, 2011, Cotonou, Benin), foreign minister of Benin (1984-87). He was also ambassador to Cuba (1982-84).

Affry, Louis (Auguste Philippe, comte) d', German Ludwig August Philipp von Affry (b. Feb. 8, 1743, Fribourg, Switzerland - d. June 26, 1810, Fribourg), Landammann of Switzerland (1803, 1809) and president of the Provisional Cantonal Commission (1803) and premier avoyer/Erster Schultheiss (1803, 1805, 1807, 1809) of Fribourg.

Afif, Ahmed (b. Jan. 6, 1967, Seychelles), vice president of Seychelles (2020- ); son of Abdullah Afif Didi.

Afifi, Hafez, until 1952 Hafez Afifi Pasha (b. 1886, Cairo, Egypt - d. 1961), foreign minister of Egypt (1928-29, 1930). He was also ambassador to the United Kingdom (1937-38).

Aflaq, Michel (b. Jan. 9, 1910, Damascus, Ottoman Empire [now in Syria] - d. June 23, 1989, Paris, France), Arab political leader. He resented the French, who after World War I held a mandate over Syria and Lebanon, but later his political thinking took on a Marxist orientation and he came to believe that the nationalist struggle had to oppose both the native aristocracy and the foreign ruler. In 1940 he began to organize a political party, with Salah al-Din Bitar, which became the Ba`th Party in 1943. His role was that of a theorist and organizer rather than holder of public office, though he was briefly education minister of Syria in 1949. He failed in bids to be elected to the Syrian parliament in 1943, 1947, and 1949. The ideology behind the party was essentially socialist, with an emphasis on Arab unity. After 1955, with the conservative political parties fighting among themselves, Aflaq made a tactical alliance with the Communist Party and thus markedly increased the Ba`th's political influence. But he could not secure political dominance in the government, and he feared that the activities of the Communists might provoke right-wing repressions. Accordingly, he initiated moves that led in 1958 to a merger of Syria and Egypt to form the United Arab Republic (U.A.R.). Aflaq had expected Gamal Abdel Nasser, the president of Egypt, to allow the Ba`th Party to dominate the Syrian region of the U.A.R., but by 1960 Nasser had reduced Ba`th to political impotence by means of repressive policies. In 1961 Syria seceded from the U.A.R. Aflaq held himself and the Ba`th aloof from the ensuing violent criticism of Nasser and the conservative policies of the secessionist regime. When the latter was overthrown in 1963, a government dominated by the Ba`th took power. At the same time a Ba`thist group effected a coup in Iraq. Aflaq began to coordinate movements between the two governments and to hold unity talks with Nasser, which however brought no important results. As the party's military wing gained ascendancy, Aflaq left Syria in 1966 and his influence declined, although he continued to guide certain factions of the Ba`th Party in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon.

Afolabi, (Chief) Sunday (Michael) (b. June 22, 1930, Iree [now in Osun state], Nigeria - d. May 10, 2004, Manchester, England), interior minister of Nigeria (1999-2002). He was also minister of education (1983).

Afolahan, Adeyemi (Ambrose) (b. Dec. 26, 1949, Ila Orangun [now in Osun state], Nigeria), administrator of Taraba (1991-92).

Afonso, Edson Stanislau (b. May 12, 1916 - d. June 27, 1957, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil), acting governor of Acre (1951); son of Emiliano Stanislau Afonso.

Afonso, Emiliano Stanislau (b. June 2, 1881, Soledade, Paraíba, Brazil - d. Aug. 22, 1960, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil), federal interventor in Amazonas (1945-46).

Afonso, Pedro Comissário (b. Sept. 18, 1957, Caia, Sofala, Mozambique), Mozambican diplomat. He has been permanent representative to the United Nations (1989-96, 2020- ) and ambassador to Portugal (1996-2001), Sweden and other Nordic countries (2006-12), and Switzerland (2013-18).

Afrah, Hussein Kulmiye (b. 1920, Mareeg, Somalia - d. 1993, United States), interior minister of Somalia (1970-76). He was also second vice president (1976-87), minister of planning (1985-87, 1989-90), deputy prime minister for economic affairs (1987-89), and chairman of the People's Assembly (1990-91).

Afrah, Mohamed Qanyare, Somali Maxamed Qanyare Afrax (b. 1941?), Somali politician. He was interior minister in the government of warlord Muhammad Farah Aydid and later minister of fisheries and marine resources (2001-02) under Pres. Abdiqasim Salad Hassan. In 2004 he was a presidential candidate and later that year became national security minister. He was sacked from his office on June 4, 2006, after his alliance was defeated in Mogadishu's battles.


Afrifa
Afrifa, (Okatakyie) Akwasi (Amankwaa) (b. April 24, 1936, Mampong, Ashanti region, Gold Coast [now Ghana] - d. June 26, 1979, near Accra, Ghana), chairman of the Presidential Commission of Ghana (1969-70). After helping to lead the coup that overthrew Pres. Kwame Nkrumah in 1966, he became finance minister. His modest style of living and outspokenness in urging Ghanaians to seek "nothing short of decent democratic rule" made him one of the most popular leaders in Ghana. Upon becoming head of state in 1969, he lifted a ban on political activity and urged a return to civilian rule. He was publicly executed by firing squad on orders of young officers who seized power in a coup in 1979. Along with other ex-leaders, he was accused of economic sabotage, abuse of power to amass wealth, and misuse of state funds.

Afritsch, Josef (b. March 13, 1901, Graz, Austria - d. Aug. 25, 1964, Vienna, Austria), interior minister of Austria (1959-63).

Afshar(-Ghassemlou), Amir Aslan (b. Nov. 21, 1922, Tehran, Persia [now Iran] - d. Feb. 18, 2021, Nice, France), Iranian diplomat; son-in-law of Mohammad Said Maraghei. He was ambassador to Austria (1967-69), the United States (1969-73), Mexico (1970-73), and West Germany (1973-77).

Afshar(-Ghassemlou), Amir Khosrow (b. Aug. 21, 1918 - d. November 1999, London, England), foreign minister of Iran (1978-79). He was ambassador to West Germany (1961-63), France (1963-66), and the United Kingdom (1969-74).

Ag Boula, Rhissa (b. 1957, Tchirozérine, Niger), Nigerien politician. A rebel leader in the Tuareg insurgencies of 1990-95 and 2007-09, he was minister-delegate (1997-99) and minister (1999-2004) of tourism and in 2011 was named special adviser to Pres. Mahamadou Issoufou; in 2016 he became minister at the presidency.

Ag Hamani, Ahmed Mohamed (b. 1942, Goundam, French Sudan [now Mali]), prime minister of Mali (2002-04). He was also minister for the supervision of state companies and enterprises (1978-79), information and telecommunications (1979-80), planning (1980-84), sports, arts, and culture (1984-86), and transport and public works (1986-87) and ambassador to Morocco (1993-99) and the Benelux countries and the United Kingdom (1999-2002).

Aga Hüseyin Pasha (b. 1776, Adrianople, Ottoman Empire [now Edirne, Turkey] - d. April 25, 1849, Vidin, Ottoman Empire [now in Bulgaria]), war minister of the Ottoman Empire (1826-27). He was also governor of Adrianople (1831-32) and Vidin (1833-44, 1846-49).


Aga Khan III
Aga Khan III, personal name Sultan Sir Mohammad Shah (b. Nov. 2, 1877, Karachi, India [now in Pakistan] - d. July 11, 1957, Versoix, near Geneva, Switzerland), Isma`ilite imam (1885-1957). The only son of Aga Khan II, he succeeded his father as imam at the age of 7. Although the Isma`ili sect is a tiny minority in Islam, he rapidly acquired a leading position among India's Muslims as a whole. In 1906 he led a deputation of Muslim leaders to Lord Minto, the viceroy, pressing for fair representation of Muslims in local government, and that year he was the man mainly responsible for setting up the All-India Muslim League. He was its president during its early years and initiated the fund for raising the Muslim college at Aligarh to university status, which was effected in 1920. He supported the Allied cause in World War I, but at the subsequent peace conference he urged that Turkey should be leniently treated. He played an important part in the Round Table conferences on Indian constitutional reform in London (1930-32) and represented India at the World Disarmament Conference in Geneva in 1932 and at the League of Nations Assembly in 1932 and from 1934 to 1937; he was vice president of the Assembly in 1934 and president in 1937. During World War II he lived in Switzerland and withdrew from political activity. The Muslim League was responsible for the creation of the independent nation of Pakistan in 1947, but because of his religious position he was never able to play an important role in the new nation. On special occasions, the Aga Khan's followers weighed him against something precious: on his silver jubilee he was weighed against silver, in 1936 against gold, in 1946 against diamonds, and in 1954 against platinum. The proceeds went to charity.


Aga Khan IV
Aga Khan IV, personal name Karim al-Hussain Shah (b. Dec. 13, 1936, Creux-de-Genthod, near Geneva, Switzerland), Isma`ilite imam (1957- ); son of Prince Aly Khan; grandson of Aga Khan III; nephew of Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan.


S. Aga Khan
Aga Khan, Prince Sadruddin (b. Jan. 17, 1933, Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris, France - d. May 12, 2003, Boston, Mass.), UN high commissioner for refugees (1966-77); son of Aga Khan III. He began his career as a consultant to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris in 1958. He joined the office of the UN refugee agency the following year, and was appointed UN high commissioner for refugees in 1965, aged 32. Under his aegis it was involved in coping with major refugee crises in Biafra during the Nigerian civil war in the 1960s, in Bangladesh, Vietnam, and in Chile. He won widespread admiraton for his supervision of the massive exodus of refugees from the war in East Pakistan, which was to become Bangladesh. He led a humanitarian mission in Lebanon in 1978 and three years later became the UN Human Rights Commission's special rapporteur on the mass exodus of populations. In the same year 1981, he applied to become Kurt Waldheim's successor as UN secretary-general, and actually obtained more votes than the man who got the job, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar. But the Soviet Union used its veto as a permanent member of the UN Security Council to block his election to the post. Prince Sadruddin also served in 1988 as UN coordinator for the reconstruction of Afghanistan and during the Gulf War of 1990-91 he served as UN Secretary-General Pérez de Cuéllar's personal representative for humanitarian assistance (until December 1991). In 1977 he set up an environmental protection body, the Bellerive Foundation, and 1989 Alp Action, devoted to protecting the Alpine environment. He also served as a vice president of WWF International.

Agafangel, secular name Aleksandr (Lavrentyevich) Preobrazhensky (b. Oct. 9 [Sept. 27, O.S.], 1854, Tula province, Russia - d. Oct. 16, 1928, Yaroslavl, Russian S.F.S.R.), Locum Tenens of Moscow and All Russia (1922). He was bishop of Kirensk (1889-93), Tobolsk (1893-97), and Riga (1897-1904), archbishop of Riga (1904-10), Vilna (1910-13), and Yaroslavl (1913-17), and metropolitan of Yaroslavl (1917-28).

Agagu, Olusegun (Kokumo) (b. Feb. 16, 1948, Iju-Odo [now in Ondo state], Nigeria - d. Sept. 13, 2013, Lagos, Nigeria), governor of Ondo (2003-09). He was also Nigerian minister of aviation (1999-2000) and power and steel (2000-02).

Agah Efendi, Çapanzade (b. March 18, 1832, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey] - d. December 1885, Athens, Greece), Ottoman official. He was minister of posts and telegraphs (1861-65) and ambassador to Greece (1885).

Agalets, Valyantsin (Styapanavich), Russian Valentin (Stepanovich) Agolets (b. Oct. 24, 1950), interior minister of Belarus (1995-99).

Agamirov, Khalil (Agamir ogly) (b. 1897 - d. 1940?), chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Nakhichevan A.S.S.R. (1933-34). He was also people's commissar of equipment (1931-33?) and forest industry (1936-37) of the Azerbaijan S.S.R.

Agamuradov, Purli (Nurmamedovich), Turkmen Pürli (Nurmämmedowiç) Agamyradow, a deputy prime minister of Turkmenistan (2018-20). He was also rector of the Turkmen State Institute of Economics and Management (2008-15) and minister of education (2015-18).

Aganaye, Adoum (b. Nov. 15, 1920, Fort-Lamy [now N'Djamena], Chad), Chadian politician. He was minister of health (1958-59), labour (1959), and transport (1971-73) and ambassador to the Benelux countries (1961-70) and West Germany (1961-64).

Agaoglu, Samet, in full Abdüssamet Agaoglu (b. April 23, 1909, Karabakh region, Russia [now in Azerbaijan] - d. Aug. 6, 1982, Istanbul, Turkey), a deputy prime minister of Turkey (1950-52). He was also minister of labour (1952-53 and [acting] 1957) and industrial development (1954-58).


Agar
Agar, Mehmet (b. Oct. 30, 1951, Ankara, Turkey), Turkish politician. In 1988 he became police director of Ankara, and in 1990 he was appointed to the same position in Istanbul. In 1992-93 he was governor of Erzurum. Elected to parliament in 1995, he became justice minister in the government of Mesut Yilmaz in March 1996 and interior minister under Necmettin Erbakan in June 1996. Allegations of links with criminals forced his resignation in November 1996. In 2002 he became leader of the True Path Party. In September 2011 he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment on charges of establishing a criminal organization.


Agarwal

Agbénonci
Agarwal, Sudarshan (b. June 19, 1931, Ludhiana, Punjab, India - d. July 3, 2019, New Delhi, India), governor of Uttaranchal (2003-07), Uttar Pradesh (2004), and Sikkim (2007-08).

Agata, Shinobu (b. June 1881, Shizuoka prefecture, Japan - d. 1942), governor of Karafuto (1929-31). He was also governor of Yamagata (1922-24), Kagoshima (1924-26), Chiba (1926-27), Gunma (1927-28), and Osaka (1932-35) and mayor of Nagoya (1939-42).

Agathocleous, Nikos (b. July 14, 1937, Galata, Cyprus), Cypriot diplomat. He was ambassador to Belgium (1979-85) and permanent representative to the United Nations (1995-97).

Agbal, Naci (b. Jan. 1, 1968, Bayburt, Turkey), finance minister of Turkey (2015-18). He was also presidential chief of strategy and budget (2018-20) and governor of the Central Bank (2020-21).

Agbénonci, Aurélien (Ama) (b. 1958), foreign minister of Benin (2016-23). He was UN resident coordinator in Congo (Brazzaville) (2003-08), Rwanda (2008-11), Mali (2012-13), and the Central African Republic (2014-16).

Agboneni, Gregory (O.) (b. Aug. 30, 1948), administrator of Adamawa (1993-94) and Cross River (1994-96).


Agboyibo

Agha
Agboyibo, (Apollinaire) Yawovi (Madji) (b. Dec. 31, 1943, Kouvé, Yoto prefecture, Togo - d. May 30, 2020, Paris, France), prime minister of Togo (2006-07). He was a presidential candidate in 1998 and 2010.

Agema, (Marie-)Fleur (b. Sept. 16, 1976, Purmerend, Noord-Holland, Netherlands), Dutch politician. She has been a deputy prime minister and minister of health, welfare, and sports (2024- ).

Agha, Syed Zahoor (Ahmed) (b. Oct. 4, 1971, Pishin district, Balochistan, Pakistan), governor of Balochistan (2021-22).

Agiru, Anderson (Pawa) (b. July 22, 1962 - d. April 28, 2016, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea), governor of Southern Highlands (1997-2001, 2007-12) and Hela (2012-15, 2016).

Agius, George (b. Nov. 14, 1924 - d. March 6, 2009), Maltese diplomat. He was ambassador to Belgium (1977-78) and permanent representative to the United Nations (1985-87). He was also general secretary of the General Workers' Union (1971-85).

Agkatsev, Vladimir (Mikhailovich) (b. April 25, 1911, Vladikavkaz, Russia - d. April 26, 2000, Moscow, Russia), first secretary of the Communist Party committee of the North Ossetian A.S.S.R. (1953-61). He was also deputy premier (1943-44).

Agnelli, Susanna (b. April 24, 1922, Turin, Italy - d. May 15, 2009, Rome, Italy), foreign minister of Italy (1995-96). She was the granddaughter of Giovanni Agnelli, the founder of the Fiat automobile company.


Agnew
Agnew, Spiro T(heodore) (b. Nov. 9, 1918, Baltimore, Md. - d. Sept. 17, 1996, Berlin, Md.), vice president of the United States (1969-73). He entered politics as a Republican and was elected chief executive of Baltimore county in 1961. Elected governor of Maryland in 1967, he secured a graduated income tax, a strong anti-pollution law, the first open-housing law south of the Mason and Dixon Line, and repeal of the state's 306-year-old anti-miscegenation law. Although he was virtually unknown to the public when Republican Richard M. Nixon chose him as his running mate in the 1968 presidential election campaign, Agnew's colourful attacks on the media (which he called "nattering nabobs of negativism" and "the hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history" in a 1970 speech) and antiwar demonstrators ("pusillanimous pussyfooters") won him national recognition. He generated a national following which he used to promote the GOP and defend the Vietnam War. He often said he spoke for an American "silent majority" that believed in conservative and traditional social mores. Reelected with Nixon in 1972, he came under investigation in 1973 for extortion, bribery, and income-tax violations relating chiefly to his tenure as governor of Maryland. On Oct. 10, 1973, faced with federal indictments, Agnew resigned the vice presidency. As part of an intricate bargain struck with the Justice Department, he also appeared in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, where he pleaded no contest to one count of tax evasion. The judge refrained from imposing a jail term and instead fined Agnew $10,000 and put him on three years' probation. He was historically the second person to quit the nation's second highest office (after John C. Calhoun in 1832) and the only one to resign under duress.

Agnos, Art(hur Christ) (b. Sept. 1, 1938, San Francisco, Calif.), mayor of San Francisco (1988-92).

Agoncillo (y Encarnacion), Felipe (b. May 26, 1859, Taal, Batangas, Philippines - d. Sept. 29, 1941, Manila, Philippines), interior secretary of the Philippines (1923-25).

Agop (Ohannes) Pasha Kazazyan (b. 1832, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey] - d. Sept. 19, 1891, Constantinople), finance minister of the Ottoman Empire (1885, 1886-87, 1888-91). He was also minister of privy purse (1880-91).


Agosti
Agosti (Echenique), Orlando Ramón (b. Aug. 22, 1924, San Andrés de Giles, Buenos Aires province, Argentina - d. Oct. 6, 1997, Buenos Aires), Argentine junta member (1976).

Agostini, Jacques (Ferrante) de (b. March 22, 1929, Montegrino, Italy), administrator-superior of Wallis and Futuna (1972-74).

Ágoston, Péter (b. March 25, 1874, Zsombolya, Hungary - d. Sept. 6, 1925, Paris, France), foreign commissar (1919) and foreign minister (1919) of Hungary.


Agovaka
Agovaka, Peter Shanel (b. Nov. 1, 1959), foreign minister of the Solomon Islands (2010-12, 2024- ). He was also minister for provincial government and constituency development (2006), commerce, industries, and employment (2006-07), police, national security, and correctional services (2014-15), and communication and aviation (2015-24).

Agra, Alberto (C.) (b. April 7, 1963), acting justice secretary of the Philippines (2010). He was also solicitor general (2010).

Agrali, (Ali) Fuat, until Jan. 1, 1935, Fuat Beyefendi (b. 1878, Molova, Ottoman Empire [now Mithymna, Greece] - d. May 11, 1957, Izmir, Turkey), finance minister of Turkey (1934-44). He was also president of the Court of Accounts (1923-27, 1931-33) and minister of public works (1933-34).


Agramonte
Agramonte (y Pichardo), Roberto (Daniel) (b. May 3, 1904, Santa Clara, Cuba - d. Dec. 12, 1995, Coral Gables, Fla.), foreign minister of Cuba (1959). He was also ambassador to Mexico (1946-47).

Agrba, Aleksey (Sergeyevich) (b. 1897, Lidzava, Sukhumi okrug, Kutaisi province, Russia [now in Abkhazia, Georgia] - d. [executed] April 21, 1938), first secretary of the Communist Party committee (1936-37) and chairman of the Central Executive Committee (1937) of the Abkhaz A.S.S.R.

Agrba, Givi (Kamugovich) (b. April 4, 1937, Kulanurkhva, Gudauta rayon, Abkhaz A.S.S.R., Georgian S.S.R. - d. Aug. 27, 2014, Sukhumi, Abkhazia), interior minister of Abkhazia (1993-96). He was also chief of the general staff (1996-2002) and head of the State Security Service (2003-04).


Agt
Agt, Andreas (Antonius Maria) van, byname Dries van Agt (b. Feb. 2, 1931, Geldrop, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands - d. [euthanasia] Feb. 5, 2024, Nijmegen, Gelderland, Netherlands), prime minister of the Netherlands (1977-82). From July 1971 he served, on behalf of the Catholic People's Party, as minister of justice in Barend Biesheuvel's right-of-centre cabinet and in the following left-wing administration led by Joop den Uyl, in which he was also deputy prime minister (1973-77). As minister of justice he was involved in two major controversies. In 1972 his announcement of the government's intention to pardon the last three Nazi war criminals remaining in Dutch prisons caused such a public outcry that he had to be given police protection, and the decision was revoked; in 1976 he considered resigning after women's actions groups prevented police, acting on his authorization, from seizing abortion instruments from a clinic. (A bill to legalize abortion was later approved by the lower house of parliament but rejected by the Senate.) In August 1976 he was elected leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal, a grouping of the Catholic People's Party with the two other confessional parties (the Anti-Revolutionary Party and the Christian Historical Union) in anticipation of the 1977 election. In the election campaign his conservative Catholicism, "non-political" image, and his stressing of ethical issues appealed particularly to older people. A nine-month political crisis ended on Dec. 19, 1977, when van Agt was sworn in as prime minister at the head of a Christian Democratic-Liberal coalition. His success in forming a government followed long negotiations, first with Labour and then with the Liberals. These parties had made the biggest gains in the May 25 general election. After the 1981 elections he formed a government with Labour and the left-liberal D66. This coalition collapsed in 1982 and he formed a minority caretaker government in which he also served as foreign minister, but after new elections that year he ceded the party leadership to Ruud Lubbers, who then became prime minister. Van Agt became queen's commissioner (governor) of Noord-Brabant province (1983-87) and European ambassador to Japan (1987-89) and the United States (1990-95).

Agtas, Supratman Andi (b. Sept. 28, 1969, Soppeng, Sulawesi Selatan, Indonesia), law minister of Indonesia (2024- ).

Aguad (Beily), Oscar (Raúl) (b. May 7, 1950, Córdoba, Argentina), federal interventor in Corrientes (2001) and defense minister of Argentina (2017-19). In 2015-17 he was telecommunications minister.

Aguado, Jorge Rubén (b. Nov. 6, 1925, Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina - d. July 11, 2019), governor of Buenos Aires (1982-83). He was also agriculture minister of Argentina (1981).

Aguapehy, João Baptista de Oliveira, barão de (b. Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brazil - d. Jan. 14, 1879, Cuiabá), acting president of Mato Grosso (1868, 1878). He was made baron in 1863.

Agudelo Villa, Hernando (b. March 9, 1923, Medellín, Colombia - d. July 29, 2010, Bogotá, Colombia), finance minister of Colombia (1958-61). He was also minister of economic development (1972-73).


M.D. Agüero
Agüero (Lara), María Dolores, foreign minister of Honduras (2016-19); niece of Mireya Agüero. She was also ambassador to the United States (2019-20) and Spain (2020-22).


Mireya Agüero
Agüero (Trejo de Corrales), Mireya (del Carmen) (b. 1958), foreign minister of Honduras (2013-15).

Agüero Rocha, Fernando (Bernabé) (b. June 11, 1920, Managua, Nicaragua - d. Sept. 27, 2011, Managua), member of the National Government Junta of Nicaragua (1972-73).

Aguiar, Alberto Cardoso de (b. Jan. 19, 1864, Rio de Janeiro province [now state], Brazil - d. July 19, 1935, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), war minister of Brazil (1918-19).

Aguiar, Antonio Nunes de (b. Nov. 22, 1807, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - d. June 17, 1876, Rio de Janeiro), president of Alagoas (1849).

Aguiar, Aristeu Borges de (b. May 23, 1892, Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil - d. Sept. 1, 1951, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), president of Espírito Santo (1928-30).

Aguiar (Aranguren), Asdrúbal (b. Jan. 14, 1949, Caracas, Venezuela), governor of the Distrito Federal (1994-96) and interior minister of Venezuela (1998-99).

Aguiar (Quezada), Cristina (Mercedes Laura) (d. Feb. 19, 2023, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic), Dominican Republic diplomat. She was permanent representative to the United Nations (1997-2000).

Aguiar, Eurípedes Clementino de (b. Jan. 19, 1880, São José dos Matões, Maranhão, Brazil - d. March 2, 1953, Teresina, Piauí, Brazil), governor of Piauí (1916-20).

Aguiar, Fausto Augusto de (b. Dec. 19, 1817, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - d. Feb. 25, 1890, Rio de Janeiro), president of Ceará (1848-50) and Pará (1850-52).

Aguiar, Fernando José de Portugal e Castro, conde e marquês de (b. Dec. 4, 1752, Lisbon, Portugal - d. Jan. 24, 1817, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), viceroy (1801-06) and principal minister (1808-17) of Brazil; brother of Afonso Miguel de Portugal e Castro, conde de Vimioso, marquês de Valença. He was also governor of Bahia (1788-1801) and minister of finance (1808-12) and foreign affairs and war (1814-16). He was made count in 1808 and marquess in 1813.

Aguiar, Francisco de Paula Rocha (b. April 4, 1947, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil), acting governor of Ceará (1994-95).

Aguiar, Francisco Lacerda de (b. Oct. 3, 1903, São José do Calçado, Espírito Santo, Brazil - d. April 27, 1983, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), governor of Espírito Santo (1955-59, 1963-66).

Aguiar, Francisco Marcelino de Sousa (b. June 2, 1855, São Salvador da Bahia [now Salvador], Brazil - d. Nov. 10, 1935, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), prefect of the Distrito Federal (1906-09); son of Francisco Primo de Souza Aguiar.

Aguiar, Francisco Primo de Souza (b. 1818, São Salvador da Bahia [now Salvador], Brazil - d. 1868, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), president of Maranhão (1861-62).

Aguiar, Joaquim António de (b. Aug. 24, 1792, Coimbra, Portugal - d. May 26, 1884), prime minister of Portugal (1841-42, 1860, 1865-68). He was also minister of interior (1833-34, 1841-42, 1865-66) and justice (1834, 1836, 1842, 1846).

Aguiar, Raphael Tobias de (b. Oct. 4, 1795, Sorocaba, São Paulo, Brazil - d. Oct. 7, 1857, aboard the Piratininga, near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), president of São Paulo (1831-35, 1840-41).

Aguiar-Branco, José Pedro (b. July 18, 1957, Porto, Portugal), justice minister (2004-05) and defense minister (2011-15) of Portugal. He has also been president of the Assembly of the Republic (2024- ).

Aguilar (Mawdsley), Andrés (b. July 10, 1924, Caracas, Venezuela - d. Oct. 24, 1995, The Hague, Netherlands), justice minister of Venezuela (1959-62). He was also permanent representative to the United Nations (1969-72, 1986-91) and ambassador to the United States (1972-74).

Aguilar (Vargas), Cándido (b. Feb. 23, 1889, Rancho de Palma, Córdoba municipality, Veracruz, Mexico - d. March 19, 1960, Mexico City, Mexico), governor of Veracruz (1914-20) and foreign minister of Mexico (1916-17, 1918); son-in-law of Venustiano Carranza.

Aguilar (Elizalde), (José) Cristóbal (b. 1815, Los Angeles, California - d. April 11, 1883), mayor of Los Angeles (1866-68, 1870-72). He was the last Latino mayor of the city until the election of Antonio Villaraigosa in 2005.

Aguilar (y de la Puerta), Manuel María de (b. Oct. 1, 1783, Antequera, Spain - d. March 18, 1867, Antequera), foreign minister of Spain (1843). He was also minister to the United Kingdom (1836-38) and Portugal (1841-43).

Aguilar Barquero, Francisco (b. May 21, 1857, Cartago, Costa Rica - d. Oct. 11, 1924, San José, Costa Rica), president of Costa Rica (1919-20). He was also war and navy minister (1889).

Aguilar Cornejo, David (Francisco) (b. Jan. 29, 1902, Callao, Peru - d. July 11, 1982, Lima, Peru), foreign minister of Peru (1954-55). He was also president of the Senate (1965-66, 1967-68).

Aguilar de Campóo, Ventura García-Sancho e Ibarrondo, marqués de (b. April 20, 1837, Mexico - d. Feb. 22, 1914, Madrid, Spain), foreign minister of Spain (1900-01, 1904-05). He was also mayor of Madrid (1899-1900).

Aguilar Padilla, Jesús (Alberto) (b. Feb. 24, 1952, El Llano de la Carrera, Cosalá municipality, Sinaloa, Mexico - d. Jan. 30, 2023, Culiacán, Sinaloa), governor of Sinaloa (2005-10).


L. Aguilar
Aguilar Revelo, Lorena (b. Sept. 10, 1960, San José, Costa Rica), acting foreign minister of Costa Rica (2018-19).

Aguilar y Maya, José (b. July 28, 1897, Jerécuaro, Guanajuato, Mexico - d. Nov. 30, 1966, Mexico City, Mexico), governor of Guanajuato (1949-55). He was also Mexican attorney general (1930-32, 1940-46, 1956-58).

Aguilar Zinser, Adolfo (b. Dec. 2, 1949, Mexico City, Mexico - d. [car accident] June 5, 2005, Tepoztlán, Morelos, Mexico), Mexican diplomat. He was permanent representative to the United Nations (2002-03).

Aguilarte Gámez, Jesús (Alberto) (b. Sept. 30, 1958, Caracas, Venezuela - d. April 2, 2012, Maracay, Aragua, Venezuela), governor of Apure (1999-2000, 2004-11). He died after being attacked by a gunman in a restaurant in Maracay on March 24, 2012.

Aguilera Gómez, Manuel (Sergio del Corazón de Jesús) (b. July 27, 1936, Orizaba, Veracruz, Mexico - d. Oct. 8, 2022), chief of government of the Distrito Federal (1993-94).

Aguinaldo (y Famy), Emilio (b. March 22, 1869, Cavite Viejo [now Kawit], Cavite, Philippines - d. Feb. 6, 1964, Kawit), leader of the Philippine Republic in rebellion (1897, 1898-1901). In August 1896 he was mayor of Cavite Viejo and was the local leader of the Katipunan, a revolutionary society that fought against the Spanish. In March 1897 he was first chosen chairman of a revolutionary government. In December, however, he signed an agreement with the Spanish governor-general, agreeing to leave the Philippines and to remain permanently in exile on condition of a substantial financial reward from Spain coupled with the promise of liberal reforms. While in Hong Kong and Singapore he made arrangements with U.S. representatives to return to the Philippines to assist the U.S. in the war against Spain. Aguinaldo returned to the Philippines May 19, 1898, and announced renewal of the struggle with Spain. In September a revolutionary assembly met and ratified Filipino independence. However, the Philippines were ceded by Spain to the U.S. on December 10. Relations between the Americans and the Filipinos grew steadily worse. On Jan. 23, 1899, the Malolos Constitution, by virtue of which the Philippines was declared a republic, was proclaimed and Aguinaldo elected president. On the night of February 4 the inevitable conflict between the Americans and Filipinos broke out. Aguinaldo issued a proclamation of war against the U.S. and his government fled northward. In November 1899 the Filipinos resorted to guerrilla warfare. After three years the insurrection was finally brought to an end when General Aguinaldo was captured in his secret headquarters at Palanan in northern Luzon on March 23, 1901. He took an oath of allegiance to the U.S. (April 1), was granted a pension, and retired to private life. In 1935 when the commonwealth government of the Philippines was established in preparation for independence, he ran for president but was decisively beaten. When the Japanese invaded in 1941, they used Aguinaldo as an anti-American tool. When the Americans returned, he was arrested and held for some months in Bilibid Prison until released by presidential amnesty. As a token vindication of his honour, he was appointed by Pres. Elpidio Quirino as a member of the Council of State in 1950.

Aguirre, Antonio Gomes (b. Aug. 23, 1859, São Mateus, Espírito Santo, Brazil - d. June 10, 1928, Vitória, Espírito Santo), acting president of Espírito Santo (1891).

Aguirre (y Gil de Biedma), Esperanza (b. Jan. 3, 1952, Madrid, Spain), president of the government of Madrid (2003-12). She was president of the Senate of Spain in 1999-2002.

Aguirre (Samaniego), Manuel Bernardo (b. Aug. 20, 1908, Baborigame, Chihuahua, Mexico - d. April 5, 1999), governor of Chihuahua (1974-80). He was also Mexican minister of agriculture (1970-74).

Aguirre, Mathías de, governor of Coahuila and Texas (1703-05).

Aguirre, Vitaliano, II, in full Vitaliano Napeñas Aguirre, byname Vit Aguirre (b. Oct. 16, 1946, Mulanay, Quezon, Philippines), justice secretary of the Philippines (2016-18).

Aguirre Abad, Francisco Xavier (b. April 17, 1808, Baba, New Granada [now in Ecuador] - d. Dec. 24, 1882, Guayaquil, Ecuador), vice president of Ecuador (1839-43, 1878). He was also mayor of Guayaquil (1867-68).

Aguirre Aparicio, Augusto (b. 1870 - d. 1945), foreign minister of Ecuador (1919-20). He was also minister to Peru (1903-06, 1907-16, 1925-33), Chile (1916-19), Argentina (1916-19, 1933-34), Colombia (1922-25), and Uruguay (1933-34).

Aguirre Asanza, Carlos (b. Aug. 18, 1929, Quito, Ecuador), foreign minister of Ecuador (1975-76). He was also ambassador to Israel (1977-79).

Aguirre Berlanga, Manuel (b. Jan. 28, 1887, San Antonio de las Alazanas, Arteaga municipality, Coahuila, Mexico - d. Oct. 4, 1953, Mexico City, Mexico), governor of Jalisco (1915-16) and interior minister of Mexico (1917-20).


P. Aguirre
Aguirre Cerda, Pedro (Abelino) (b. Feb. 6, 1879, Pocuro, near Los Andes, Chile - d. Nov. 25, 1941, Santiago, Chile), president of Chile (1938-41). He was elected deputy to the Chilean parliament for the province of Los Andes in 1915 and for Santiago in 1918. Also in 1918 he was named minister of education and justice and late that year he made a trip to the United States to study industrial teaching and was appointed financial counselor of the Chilean embassy in Washington. In 1920 he was charged by Pres. Arturo Alessandri with organizing his first cabinet as interior minister. In 1921 he became a senator, and in 1924 he made a trip to Europe to study economic and social problems. In 1938 Aguirre Cerda, himself a member of the (actually moderate) Radical Party, became the candidate of a popular front coalition for president and won the hotly contested election by a narrow 4,000-vote margin. His program was looked upon as the "New Deal" for Chile, with emphasis on plans for aiding the "forgotten man." He announced that his motto would be "to govern is to educate." But in January 1939, one month after he took office, Chile was rocked by a devastating earthquake, which razed 20 cities and killed 8,000, necessitating a turn from the program of social progress to reconstruction. He served as a balance wheel between sharply divided right and left factions in a nation with extremes of wealth and poverty. He had served less than half his term as president when he died after a short illness.

Aguirre Jado, Francisco X(avier) (b. Aug. 10, 1853, Guayaquil, Ecuador - d. Dec. 17, 1914), foreign minister of Ecuador (1909-10). He was also minister to Peru (1902-03).

Aguirre Martínez, Juan Esteban (b. Aug. 5, 1949, San Juan Bautista, Paraguay), foreign minister of Paraguay (2000-01). He was also ambassador to Brazil (1989-92), the United States (1992-94), and Canada (2001-09).

Aguirre Obarrio, Eduardo (Enrique) (b. May 14, 1923, Berlin, Germany - d. Sept. 28, 2011), defense minister of Argentina (1972-73).

Aguirre Rivero, Ángel (Heladio) (b. April 21, 1956, Ometepec, Guerrero, Mexico), governor of Guerrero (1996-99 [interim], 2011-14).


F. Aguirre
Aguirre Sacasa, Francisco (Xavier) (b. Sept. 4, 1944, Managua, Nicaragua), foreign minister of Nicaragua (2000-02). He was also ambassador to the United States (1997-2000).

Aguirre Santiago, Amado (b. Feb. 8, 1863, San Sebastián, Jalisco, Mexico - d. Aug. 22, 1949, Mexico City, Mexico), governor of Quintana Roo (1924-25) and Baja California Sur (1927-29). He was also Mexican minister of communications and public works (1921-24).

Aguirre Velázquez, Ramón (b. Sept. 21, 1935, San Felipe, Guanajuato, Mexico), chief of government of the Distrito Federal (1982-88). He was also Mexican minister of planning and budget (1981-82).

Aguirre y Lecube, José Antonio de (b. March 6, 1904, Bilbao, Spain - d. March 22, 1960, Paris, France), president of the government of País Vasco (1936-60; from 1937 in exile).


Aguiyi-Ironsi
Aguiyi-Ironsi, Johnson (Thomas Umunnakwe)1 (b. March 3, 1924, Umuahia [now in Abia state], Nigeria - d. [killed] July 29, 1966, Lalupon [now in Oyo state], Nigeria), head of state of Nigeria (1966).
1 He was originally Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi and was baptized Thomas. He soon was in the care of his only sibling, a much older sister; when she married Theophilus Johnson, the couple took Thomas Umunnakwe into their home and were thought by many to be the parents, and Johnson bequeathed his name to the brother-in-law he was raising.

Agumava, Zurab (Mikhailovich) (b. 1961), interior minister of Abkhazia (2001). He has also been head of the State Security Service (2001-03), head of administration of Sukhumi district (2003-06), acting prosecutor-general (2014), and head of the Supreme Court (2015- ).

Agúndez Montaño, Narciso (b. Oct. 26, 1958, Santa Anita, Baja California Sur, Mexico), governor of Baja California Sur (2005-11). He was also mayor of Los Cabos (1999-2002).

Agura, Dimitur (Dimitrov) (b. Oct. 26 [Oct. 14, O.S.], 1849, Cheshme Varuit, Bessarabia, Russia [now Krynychne, Odessa oblast, Ukraine] - d. Oct. 11 [Sept. 28, O.S.], 1911, Iasi, Romania), Bulgarian politician. He was education minister (1883) and rector of Sofia Higher School (1889-90, 1892-95)/Sofia University (1907-08).

Agus, Hasan Basri (b. Dec. 31, 1953, Sungai Abang, Jambi, Indonesia), governor of Jambi (2010-15).

Agushi, Iljaz (b. April 14, 1903, Pristina, Ottoman Empire [now in Kosovo] - d. Oct. 27, 1943, Tiranë, Albania), Albanian politician. He was minister of public works (1941-43) and deputy prime minister (1943).

Ágústsson, Einar (b. Sept. 23, 1922 - d. April 12, 1986), foreign minister of Iceland (1971-78). He was also ambassador to Denmark (1980-86), Italy (1980-86), Israel (1980-86), and Turkey (1981-86).


Aguzarov
Aguzarov, Tamerlan (Kimovich) (b. June 14, 1963, Alagir, North Ossetian A.S.S.R., Russian S.F.S.R. - d. Feb. 19, 2016, Moscow, Russia), head of the republic of North Ossetia-Alania (2015-16).

Agyeman, Harold Adlai, Ghanaian diplomat. He has been acting high commissioner to India (2009), chargé d'affaires in Benin (2017), and permanent representative to the United Nations (2021- ).

Agzamov, Yury (Nabiyevich) (b. 1949, Tashkent, Uzbek S.S.R.), defense minister of Uzbekistan (2000).