Background
Mamadou Dia was born in Khombole, Senegal on July 18, 1910.
Mamadou Dia was born in Khombole, Senegal on July 18, 1910.
Educated at the William Ponty School at Dakar and then trained to become a teacher.
After rising to be a headmaster he turned more to politics and became a founder member of the Senegalese Democratic Bloc (BDS). As secretary-general of the BDS he worked closely with Senghor through all the political turmoil of the 1950s. He served in representative institutions from 1946 and was a senator of the French Republic from 1948 to 1956 and an MP in the National Assembly from 1946 to 1959.
His political breakthrough came in 1957 when he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister of Senegal as a stepping stone to the premiership a year later with the added power of holding the portfolio of Minister of the Economy. On April 4, 1959, he also became Vice-President of the federal government of the Mali Federation until its break-up. Although loyal to Senghor in the Mali crisis of summer 1960 he grew increasingly further apart from the president. Ironically, he acquired the extra portfolio of the Armed Forces Ministry in May 1961 about 18 months before the showdown.
The ultimate clash in December 1962 was basically a power struggle with undercurrents of differences over the economy. He was more doctrinaire than Senghor and more of a disciplinarian. Senghor was also aware of dissatisfaction in the French business community as well as among the marabouts (Islamic leaders) over Dia’s rural animation policies. Although the army commander was on Dia’s side, Senghor had the support of the paratroops.
In the treason trial of May 1963 Dia and three of his ministers were given life sentences. His own sentence was commuted to 20 years’ imprisonment in April 1972. He has served most of his sentence at Kedougou in eastern Senegal but in early 1973 was reported to have been taken to hospital at Dakar with eye trouble.
Bloc Democratique Senegalais (BDS), later Secretary-Gen.
Trained in France, he demonstrated his skill as an orator with an incisive approach to economic problems. A gifted writer on economics and African politics he has had some of his works used as textbooks.