Index At-Az

Atambayev

Atanasof, Alfredo (Néstor) (b. Nov. 24, 1949, La Plata), labour minister (2002) and cabinet chief (2002-03) of Argentina.

Atanasov

Atangana

Atanasov, Georgi (Ivanov) (b. June 23, 1933, Pravoslaven, Plovdiv oblast, Bulgaria), prime minister of Bulgaria (1986-90). In November 1992 he was convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to 10 years prison, but he was released for health reasons in August 1994.

Atangana Mebara, Jean-Marie (b. March 27, 1954, Yaoundé, Cameroon), foreign minister of Cameroon (2006-07).

H. Atassi

Atassi, Hashim (Bay Khalid) al-, Arabic Hashim Bay Khalid al-Atasi (b. 1875, Homs, Syria - d. Dec. 5, 1960, Homs), prime minister (1920, 1949) and president (1936-39, 1949-51, 1954-55) of Syria. He was an official in the Ottoman administration of Syria in his early life. In 1919 he became a member of the Syrian Congress, which in 1920 proclaimed Greater Syria an independent constitutional monarchy. As one of the nationalist leaders opposing the French occupation that followed, he was elected president of the Constituent Assembly, which, because of its adherence to the 1920 proclamation, was dissolved by the French high commissioner in May 1930. In 1936 he headed a Syrian delegation to Paris that negotiated a Franco-Syrian treaty providing for Syrian independence. A parliament was elected and he was chosen as president of the republic. However, by the end of 1938 it was obvious that the French government had no intention of ratifying the treaty; Atassi resigned in 1939. In 1949, a year of military uprisings, he was called upon to form a provisional government and to hold elections for a Constituent Assembly. In December 1950 the Assembly, under a new constitution, elected him president, but another coup led by Col. Adib al-Shishakli followed, and Atassi resigned and parliament was dissolved in December 1951. When Shishakli's regime was overthrown by an Army revolt in February 1954, Atassi was recalled to complete his presidential term. After the 1955 elections he retired to private life in Homs. Amid the confusion and violence that often formed the background of Syrian history, he stood out as a man of sound principles dedicated to constitutional methods of government.

Atassi, Louai al-, Arabic Lu´ayy al-Atasi (b. 1926, Homs, Syria - d. November 2003, Homs), chairman of the National Revolutionary Command Council of Syria (1963).

N. Atassi

Atassi, Nureddin (Mustafa) al-, Arabic Nur al-Din Mustafa al-Atasi (b. 1929, Homs, Syria - d. Dec. 3, 1992, Paris, France), president of Syria (1966-70). He entered politics during the 1960s, becoming embroiled in the internal intrigues of the Ba`th Party, at that time divided between two factions. Atassi became a leader of the "progressive" wing, which advocated Marxist-inspired economic policies and a strong relationship with the U.S.S.R. After the party seized power in 1963, he was named minister of the interior. In 1964 he served as deputy prime minister, and in 1965 he was made a member of a five-man Presidential Council. After a military junta orchestrated by members of the progressive faction took power in 1966 (Syria's 10th coup in 20 years), Atassi was named president; he served as secretary-general of the party as well. Atassi managed to stay in power for four years (through the Six-Day War in 1967) and became prime minister in 1968, yet his position was always tenuous at best. In 1969 an attempted coup led by Hafez al-Assad, who headed the competing "nationalist" wing of the party, was thwarted only by Moscow's threatened withdrawal of all military and economic aid. The next year Atassi sought to support Palestinian guerrillas (who were based in Jordan and fighting King Hussein's army) by sending Syrian army troops. Assad, as minister of defense, refused to send air cover, and they were defeated. Atassi, who was placed under house arrest in 1970 after Assad assumed power, was later reportedly moved to the Mezze military prison in Damascus. In November 1992 he was sent to Paris because of ill health.

Atatürk

Atatürk, Kemal, until Jan. 1, 1935, Mustafa Kemal Pasha (b. 1881¹, Salonika, Ottoman Empire [now Thessaloniki, Greece] - d. Nov. 10, 1938, Istanbul, Turkey), president of Turkey (1923-38). He advanced in the military and during World War I played a crucial role in repelling the Allied invasion. He was hailed as the "Saviour of Istanbul" and was promoted to colonel on June 1, 1915. After the war he was appointed to a post in the Ministry of War. Seeing how the victorious Allies prepared to partition Anatolia, he resigned the army (1919) and was chosen president of a National Congress. In 1920, when the British formally occupied Turkey and dissolved the Chamber of Deputies, he opened the first Grand National Assembly of Turkey; the assembly with Kemal as speaker then assumed national sovereignty. He won decisive battles against Greek forces, reoccupying Izmir in September 1922. The sultan's government having been discredited for acquiescing to the Allied occupation, Kemal then consolidated his control of Anatolia, proclaimed a republic (Oct. 29, 1923) and was elected its first president. The peace treaty of 1923 established Turkey's independence. In 1924 he abolished the caliphate and began a sweeping reform of Turkish politics, law, and culture. He encouraged adoption of a European way of life, with Turkish written in the Latin alphabet and with citizens adopting family names; he was given the name Atatürk ("Father of the Turks") by the National Assembly. He armed and industrialized Turkey and made it a powerful nation. He conciliated the Greeks and steered a course between East and West that made the Soviet Union, Britain, and Germany in turn glad to cultivate Turkey's friendship and lend her millions for further development.
¹ The exact date of his birth is not known. In the official population register, his birth was entered in the year 1296 in the Rumi calendar; that year extended from March 13, 1880, to March 12, 1881. However, he took May 19, 1881, as his official birthday, May 19 being the date on which he landed in Samsun in 1919 to lead the Turkish armed resistance against the Allies.

Atchison

Atchison, David Rice (b. Aug. 11, 1807, Frogtown, Ky. - d. Jan. 26, 1886, near Gower, Mo.), U.S. politician. He served as a major general in the Missouri State Militia. At the age of 35, he was a circuit judge and at 36, he was appointed to the United States Senate to replace a Missouri senator who had just died. Atchison held the office for 12 years, from 1843 to 1855. James K. Polk was scheduled to step down as president at noon on Sunday, March 4, 1849. To eliminate the danger of being without a president and to avoid confusion, Congress asked the president-elect, Gen. Zachary Taylor, if he would take the oath of office on Sunday. Taylor, a very religious man, refused. Discussing the question of who would lead the country for a day, Congress debated all day Saturday and into Sunday's early morning hours. When the presidential and the vice-presidential offices are vacant, the president pro-tem of the Senate becomes the president. Because Atchison held that position in the outgoing Senate, he was to act as president of the United States, but he was never sworn in in that capacity. Atchison told friends that he slept through his moment of greatness; he had no idea of his high appointment until about 10 o'clock Sunday morning. He might have slept through it if friends had not come by to congratulate him and ask for favours. There is no doubt that Atchison considered himself president. On Monday morning when the Senate reassembled, he sent for the presidential seal and signed minor, but official, papers. During the administration of Pres. Franklin Pierce, Atchison served as the "unofficial" vice president after William R. King died. Atchison handled the duties of the vice presidential office from April 1853 to December 1854.

Aten, Erhart (b. 1932 - d. [lost at sea] November 2004), governor of Truk (1978-86).

Athanasiadis-Novas, Georgios (Themistokleous) (b. Feb. 9, 1893, Nafpaktos, Greece - d. Aug. 10, 1987, Athens, Greece), prime minister of Greece (1965). He entered the National Assembly in 1926. He lived in Italy during the dictatorship of Ioannis Metaxas (1936-41) and again (1945-49) following the destruction of his home by Greek Communists. Athanasiadis-Novas joined the Liberal Party in 1949 and was minister of education (1950-51), minister of industry (1951-52), and in charge of the prime minister's office (1951-52 and 1963). The Liberals merged with Papandreou's Centre Union Party in 1961, so when Papandreou attained power in 1964, he appointed Athanasiadis-Novas president of the Chamber of Deputies. He was prime minister following King Konstantinos II's clash with Georgios Papandreou but failed to secure a vote of confidence in the Chamber. He then was deputy prime minister (July 1965-December 1966) but abandoned politics after the military coup of 1967. Under the name George Athanas he published seven highly acclaimed volumes of poetry, two books of short stories, and one novel.

Athinagoras

Athinagoras I, also spelled Athenagoras, secular name Aristoklis Spyrou (b. March 25, 1886, Vasilikon, near Ioannina, Greece - d. July 7, 1972, Istanbul, Turkey), ecumenical patriarch and archbishop of Constantinople (1948-72). He was ordained a deacon in 1910. Until 1922 he was chief secretary to the Holy Synod at Athens, then was metropolitan of Corfu (1923-30). During his tenure (1930-48) as archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church of North and South America, with a membership of 1,950,000, he became a U.S. citizen (1938), although some years later he was obliged to resume Turkish citizenship. He was deeply influenced by his long stay in the U.S., where he founded the theological college of Sainte-Croix, Conn., and the Saint-Basile Academy in Boston. In 1948 Athinagoras was elected ecumenical patriarch and proceeded to become, in the words of Pope Paul VI, "a great protagonist of the reconciliation of all Christians." At his own initiative, Athinagoras met with Paul VI in Jerusalem in 1964 (the first time the leaders of the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches had conferred since 1439), in Istanbul in 1967, and again that year when he visited the Vatican. In 1965 the two leaders agreed to a revocation of the mutual excommunication decrees of 1054; this historic event was accomplished through simultaneous services in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and the patriarchal church in Constantinople. Athinagoras was often criticized by Athens for his efforts to reach an understanding with the Roman Catholic Church.

Atmodarminto, Wiyogo (b. Nov. 22, 1922), governor of Jakarta Raya (1987-92).

Atopare, Sir Silas, Silas also spelled Sailas (b. 1951, Kabiufa village, Eastern Highlands province, Papua New Guinea), governor-general of Papua New Guinea (1997-2003); knighted 1998.

Atta Mills

Atta Mills, John (Evans) (b. July 21, 1944, Cape Coast, Gold Coast [now Ghana]), vice president (1997-2001) and president (2009- ) of Ghana. He was an unsuccessful presidential candidate in 2000 and 2004 before narrowly winning in 2008.

Attaf

Attaf, Ahmed (b. July 10, 1953, Ain Defla, Algeria), foreign minister of Algeria (1996-99). He was a career diplomat in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He served as head of the Division of Multilateral Treaties (1977), head of the Political Affairs Division of the OAU (1977-79), deputy director of United Nations, Strategic and Disarmament Affairs (1982-84), and director of International Political Affairs (1984-89). He also served as secretary in the Permanent Mission of Algeria to the United Nations in New York (1979-82), ambassador of Algeria to Yugoslavia (1989-92) and ambassador of Algeria to India (1992-94). In March 1994, he was appointed Secretary of State for Cooperation and Maghrebian Affairs, a function he carried out jointly with that of spokesman for the government from October 1994. Attaf became minister of foreign affairs in January 1996. He was elected member of parliament in June 1997.

Attah, Obong Victor (Bassey) (b. Nov. 20, 1938, Okop, Nigeria), governor of Akwa Ibom (1999-2007).

Attali, Jacques (b. Nov. 14, 1943, Algiers, Algeria), president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (1991-93).

Attas, Haidar Abu Bakr al- (b. April 5, 1939), prime minister (1985-86) and chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Council (1986-90) of Yemen (Aden) and prime minister of Yemen (1990-94).

Atthoumani, Said, interior minister (1975) and chairman of the Politico-Military Directorate (1978) of the Comoros; nephew of Said Mohamed Jaffar.

Attiyah, Abdul Rahman ibn Hamad al- (b. 1950, Doha, Qatar), secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (2002- ). He joined the Qatari Foreign Ministry in 1973 where he held many diplomatic posts in Arab and other foreign capitals and international organizations. He was appointed undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry in January 1998 and stayed in this post till he was appointed a minister of state in 2000.

Attlee

Attlee, Clement (Richard), (1st) Earl Attlee of Walthamstow, Viscount Prestwood (b. Jan. 3, 1883, Putney, London - d. Oct. 8, 1967, Westminster, London), British prime minister (1945-51). In 1907 he joined the Fabian Society and in 1908 the Independent Labour Party. He was elected to the House of Commons from Limehouse in 1922 and served in the first and second Labour governments (1924, 1929-31). In 1935 he succeeded George Lansbury as Labour Party leader. In May 1940 he supported the prime ministry of Winston Churchill and served in the war cabinet as deputy prime minister (1942-45). In May 1945 he led Labour out of the coalition, and, after the decisive defeat of the Conservatives in the election of July 1945, he became prime minister. Attlee assumed office during the final conference of the Allies in World War II (at Potsdam, Germany, July 17-Aug. 2, 1945). After accepting the U.S.-inspired European Recovery Program (Marshall Plan; 1948), Britain joined NATO as well as the Council of Europe (1949). At home, a program of economic austerity was rigorously administered by Sir Stafford Cripps, Attlee's chancellor of the exchequer and minister of economic affairs (1947-50). Major British industries were nationalized. The government created the National Health Service and put into effect other features of the comprehensive welfare scheme advocated (1942) by the economist William Henry Beveridge. During Attlee's tenure, independence within the Commonwealth was granted to India, Burma, and Ceylon, and he relinquished control of Egypt and of Palestine, where the nation of Israel was founded. In the 1950 general election, Labour was narrowly returned to power, but the Conservatives won in October 1951. On yielding the party leadership in December 1955, he was created an earl and viscount.

Attoumane, Ahmed Ben Cheikh (b. 1938, Anjouan, Comoros), prime minister of the Comoros (1993-94).

Atukum, Samuel (Bitrus) (b. 1940), governor of Plateau (1984-85).

Atun, Hakki (b. 1935, Famagusta district, Cyprus), speaker of parliament (1985-93) and prime minister (1994-96) of North Cyprus.

Atururi

Atururi, Abraham O(ctavianus), byname Bram Atururi (b. Oct. 13, 1950, Serui, Netherlands New Guinea [now in Papua Barat, Indonesia]), governor of Irian Jaya Barat/Papua Barat (2003-05, 2006- ).

Atwater

Atwater, Lee, byname of Harvey LeRoy Atwater (b. Feb. 27, 1951, Atlanta, Ga. - d. March 29, 1991, Washington, D.C.), U.S. politician. An aggressive Republican strategist, he mastered hardball politics while growing up in South Carolina, a stronghold of the Democrats. Atwater served an internship on Capitol Hill with Sen. Strom Thurmond. At the age of 29, after helping Ronald Reagan defeat George Bush in 1980 to become the Republican presidential nominee, Atwater was named deputy political director in the Reagan White House. In 1984 Atwater joined a consulting firm, but Bush enlisted him in 1987 to become his political director. As national campaign director, Atwater publicized the prison furlough granted by Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis to convicted murderer Willie Horton, a black man who later raped a white woman and stabbed her husband. The relentless negative campaigning was believed to have propelled Bush to his landslide victory, in which he won 40 states. Bush then named Atwater Republican National Committee chairman (1989). Because of illness he was replaced in that position in January 1991, the same month his first-person story in Life magazine appeared. In it Atwater apologized to Dukakis for the "naked cruelty" of the 1988 presidential campaign.

Aubame

Aubame, Jean-Hilaire (b. Nov. 10, 1912, Libreville, Gabon - d. Aug. 16, 1989, Libreville), foreign minister (1961-63) and head of the Provisional Government (1964) of Gabon. He was put on trial following the 1964 attempted coup and sentenced to 10 years of hard labour and 10 years of banishment. Pres. Albert-Bernard (later Omar) Bongo allowed him to leave the country in 1972 and he went to Paris where he remained until Bongo invited him to return in 1981.

Aube, (Hyacinthe Laurent) Théophile (b. Nov. 22, 1826, Toulon, France - d. Dec. 31, 1890, Toulon), commandant-particular of Gabon (1867-68), governor of Martinique (1879-81), and French minister of marine and colonies (1886-87).

Aubert, Pierre (b. March 3, 1927, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Neuchâtel, Switzerland), foreign minister (1978-87) and president (1983, 1987) of Switzerland.

Aubert, Pierre (b. Feb. 1, 1929, Le Sentier, Le Chenit commune, Vaud, Switzerland), president of the Council of State of Vaud (1974, 1981).

Aubert, Pierre (Émile) (b. March 8, 1888, Arras, Pas-de-Calais, France - d. Dec. 27, 1972, Paris), governor of Réunion (1940-42).

Aubry

Aubry, Martine (Louise Marie) (b. Aug. 8, 1950, Paris, France), French politician; daughter of Jacques Delors. A former senior civil servant expert on employment policy, she was a respected minister of labour in 1991-93 and minister of employment and solidarity in 1997-2000. Sharp-minded and dynamic, she set up a Foundation for Action against Social Exclusion, working to bring young unemployed and poor back into the world of work. In 2001 she became mayor of Lille. In 2008 she was elected leader of the Socialist Party, defeating Ségolčne Royal in a membership ballot by the tiny margin of 102 votes (50.04%-49.96%).

Aubry-Bailleul, Tranquille (b. Jan. 8, 1798, Anglesqueville-l'Esneval, Seine-Inférieure [now Seine-Maritime], France - d. ...), governor of Guadeloupe (1851-53).

Audéoud, (Marie Michel Alexandre) René (b. Sept. 7, 1854, Buxičres-sous-les-Côtes, Meuse, France - d. May 10, 1909, Paris), governor of French Sudan (1898-99).

Audu, Abubakar (b. Oct. 27, 1947), governor of Kogi (1992-93, 1999-2003).

Audu, Ishaya (Shuaibu) (b. March 1, 1927, Anchau village [now in Kaduna state], Nigeria - d. Aug. 29, 2005), foreign minister of Nigeria (1979-83).

Aufsess, Hans Max (Otto Hermann Karl Gustav) Freiherr von (und zu) (b. Aug. 4, 1906, Berchtesgaden, Germany - d. November 1993), chief administrator of German-occupied Jersey (1943-45).

Augagneur, (Jean) Victor (b. May 16, 1855, Lyon, France - d. April 23, 1931, Le Vésinet, Yvelines, France), mayor of Lyon (1900-05), governor-general of Madagascar (1906-09) and French Equatorial Africa (1920-23), and public works and posts and telegraphs minister (1911-12), public instruction and fine arts minister (1914), and marine minister (1914-15) of France.

Auger, Charles (b. c. 1640, St. Kitts - d. Feb. 13, 1705, Leogane, Saint-Domingue [now Haiti]), governor of Guadeloupe (1695-1702) and Saint-Domingue (1703-05).

August II

August II, also called August Fryderyk, byname August Mocny, German August Friedrich, or August der Starke, English Augustus Frederick, or Augustus the Strong (b. May 12, 1670, Dresden, Saxony - d. Feb. 1, 1733, Warsaw), king of Poland (1697-1704, 1709-33) and elector of Saxony (1694-1733, as Friedrich August I). The second son of Elector Johann Georg III of Saxony, August succeeded his elder brother Johann Georg IV as elector in 1694. After the death of Jan III Sobieski of Poland (1696), August became one of 18 candidates for the Polish throne. By becoming a Catholic and granting the Polish nobility unprecedented privileges he was elected king with the support of the Holy Roman emperor and the pope. Seeking to conquer the former Polish province of Livonia, then in Swedish hands, August formed an alliance with Russia and Denmark against Sweden. Although the Polish Diet refused to support him, he invaded Livonia in 1700, thus beginning the Great Northern War (1700-21). In July 1702 his forces were driven back and defeated by King Karl XII of Sweden at Kliszów, northeast of Kraków. Deposed by one of the Polish factions in July 1704, he fled to Saxony, which the Swedes invaded in 1706. Karl XII forced August to sign the Treaty of Altranstädt (September 1706), formally abdicating and recognizing Sweden's candidate, Stanislaw Leszczynski, as king of Poland. In 1709, after Russia defeated Sweden at the Battle of Poltava, August declared the treaty void and, supported by Emperor Pyotr I, forced the Diet to restore him as king of Poland. A patron of the arts, he embellished Dresden and created the Meissen china manufactures. But his reign marked the decline of Poland from a major European power to a protectorate of Russia.

August III

August III, also called August Fryderyk, German August Friedrich, English Augustus Frederick (b. Oct. 17, 1696, Dresden, Saxony - d. Oct. 5, 1763, Dresden), king of Poland (1734-63) and elector of Saxony (1733-63, as Friedrich August II). The only legitimate son of Friedrich August I of Saxony (August II of Poland), he followed his father's example by joining the Roman Catholic Church in 1712. In 1719 he married Maria Josepha, daughter of the Holy Roman emperor Joseph I. As a candidate for the Polish crown, he secured the support of Holy Roman Emperor Karl VI by assenting to the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713, designed to preserve the integrity of the Habsburg inheritance, and that of Empress Anna of Russia by supporting Russia's claim to Courland. Chosen king by a small minority of electors on Oct. 5, 1733, he drove his rival, the former Polish king Stanislaw I, into exile. He was crowned in Kraków on Jan. 17, 1734, and was generally recognized as king in Warsaw in June 1734. A notable patron of the arts, he was more interested in ease and pleasure than in affairs of state, and left the administration of Saxony and Poland to his chief adviser, Heinrich von Brühl, who in turn left Polish administration chiefly to the powerful Czartoryski family. In the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-48), August at first offered to support Maria Theresa in return for a corridor between Poland and Saxony. He was refused and entered the coalition against her, claiming rights as a son-in-law of her uncle, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I. He changed sides in 1742. When the Seven Years War began (1756) with a surprise attack on Saxony, August fled to Poland; he returned to Dresden only after the war was over (1763). August's death ended the personal union of Saxony and Poland.

Auguste

Auguste, (Jean Antoine) Tancrčde (b. March 16, 1856, Cap-Haďtien, Haiti - d. [poisoned] May 3, 1913, Port-au-Prince, Haiti), member of the Council of Secretaries of State (1896) and president (1912-13) of Haiti.

Aujas, Louis (Célestin) (b. Oct. 11, 1876, Paris - d. Nov. 24, 1962), acting governor of Dahomey (1932-33).

Aune, Anders (John) (b. 1923), governor of Finnmark (1963-65 [acting], 1974-89).

Aung San

Aung San (b. Feb. 13, 1915, Natmauk, Burma [now Myanmar] - d. [assassinated] July 19, 1947, Rangoon [now Yangon]), deputy chairman of the Executive Council of Burma (1946-47). With Nu, he led a student strike at Rangoon University in February 1936. After Burma's separation from India in 1937, he worked for the nationalist Dobama Asi-ayone ("We-Burmans Association") and became its secretary-general in 1939. In 1940 he went to Japan, where he was made a major general in the Burmese National Army which marched with the Japanese into Burma in 1942. He served as defense minister in the Japanese puppet government of Ba Maw (1943-45). Becoming skeptical of Japanese promises of independence, in August 1944 he got in touch with Lord Mountbatten in Ceylon, and returned to Burma to organize an anti-Japanese resistance movement. He succeeded in forming the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL), which rapidly became the most powerful body in Burma. At the head of this united front he became effectively prime minister in September 1946. He went to London in January 1947, and on returning to Rangoon announced that agreement had been reached for the election of a Constituent Assembly which would draft a constitution, which Britain had undertaken to accept provided it was agreed to by all the parties. The election was held in April and resulted in the AFPFL securing 196 of the 202 seats. The Assembly passed a resolution in favour of setting up an independent republic. He was assassinated, along with five other ministers and the ruler of Möngpawn, in the council chamber in Rangoon while the Executive Council was in session. His political rival Saw was later executed for his part in the killings.

Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi (b. June 19, 1945, Rangoon, Burma [now Yangon, Myanmar]), Myanmar opposition leader. She was the daughter of Aung San (a martyred national hero of independent Burma) and Khin Kyi (a prominent Burmese diplomat). She was two years old when her father, then the de facto prime minister of what would shortly become independent Burma, was assassinated. In 1988 the mass slaughter of protesters against the brutal and unresponsive rule of the military strongman Ne Win led her to speak out against him and to begin a nonviolent struggle for democracy and human rights. Ne Win officially resigned in July 1988, but he was widely believed to be the final authority behind the military government, which took power in a bloody coup in September. In response to the coup, Aung San Suu Kyi and former defense minister Tin Oo formed the National League for Democracy (NLD). On July 20, 1989, one day after the anniversary of her father's death, she was put under house arrest and held incommunicado. Free to leave the country quietly, she refused to do so until the country was returned to civilian government and political prisoners were freed. Hundreds of other NLD members, including Tin Oo, were also arrested. With the NLD effectively silenced, the government, certain of a victory, allowed the constituent assembly elections scheduled for May 1990 to take place fairly. It underestimated Aung San Suu Kyi's support, however. Although barred from participating herself, she had enough popularity to help the NLD win 81% of the parliamentary seats it contested. Still, the military government refused to give up power and repudiated the election results. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. She was released from house arrest in 1995 but again placed under it in 2000-02. She was again taken into custody on May 30, 2003.

Aura, Teuvo (Ensio) (b. Dec. 28, 1912, Ruskeala, Finland - d. Jan. 11, 1999, Helsinki), prime minister of Finland (1970, 1971-72).

Aurangzeb, Miangul (Gulshahzada) (b. Feb. 28, 1928, Saidu Sharif, India [now in Pakistan]), governor of Balochistan (1997-99) and of the North-West Frontier Province (1999). He is the son of the last Wali of Swat, Miyangol `Abd al-Haqq Jahanzib.

Auriol

Auriol, (Jules) Vincent (b. Aug. 25, 1884, Revel, Haute-Garonne, France - d. Jan. 1, 1966, Paris), president of France (1947-54). He was a charter member of the Socialist Party (SFIO) and co-founder of Le Midi Socialiste newspaper in 1908. He was elected to the French Chamber of Deputies for Muret (Haute-Garonne) in 1914, and a year later was elected mayor of Toulouse. He soon emerged as a prominent figure in the Socialist Party, leading its parliamentary delegation between 1919 and 1935. He served as Premier Léon Blum's finance minister in 1936-37, as justice minister in the Camille Chautemps cabinet of 1937-38, and held a post in the short-lived Blum cabinet in 1938. He was among the 80 French parliamentarians who on July 10, 1940, voted against granting full administrative powers to Marshal Philippe Pétain as head of the Vichy regime, and was imprisoned between 1940 and 1943. In October 1943 he escaped to London where he joined Gen. Charles de Gaulle's movement. He became a member of the consultative assembly set up in Paris after its liberation in August 1944. As minister of state in de Gaulle's cabinet from November 1945, Auriol became known as a mediator of the right and left wings. He was elected president of the French constituent assembly on Jan. 31, 1946. On Jan. 16, 1947, he became the first president under the constitution of the Fourth Republic. His conciliatory policy was continued during his presidency, but the stresses in France at the end of the war proved to be overwhelming. Economic depression, factional political disputes, and the French Indochina War provided a basis for consistent attacks from both the communists and the Gaullists. Auriol refused renomination in 1954 and removed himself from politics entirely in 1960.

Aurousseau, Jean-Claude (b. Sept. 17, 1929, Paris), prefect of Guadeloupe (1975-78) and of Paris département (1993-94).

Aushev

Aushev, Ruslan (Sultanovich) (b. Oct. 29, 1954, Volodarskoye village, Kazakh S.S.R.), head of the Provisional Administration (1992) and president (1993-2001) of Ingushetia.

Ausseil, Jean (Jacques Charles) (b. April 30, 1925, Vincennes, Val-de-Marne, France - d. Feb. 4, 2001, Madrid, Spain), minister of state of Monaco (1985-91).

Austin, Hudson (b. April 26, 1938), head of the Revolutionary Military Council of Grenada (1983). He was among 14 people sentenced to death in 1986 for the murder of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop in 1983. The sentences were commuted to life imprisonment in August 1991 and quashed in February 2007; he was released in December 2008.

Austin, Warren R(obinson) (b. Nov. 12, 1877, Highgate Center, Vt. - d. Dec. 25, 1962, Burlington, Vt.), U.S. representative to the United Nations (1947-53). He became active in Republican politics, being mayor of St. Albans, Vt., in 1909. Elected U.S. senator from Vermont in 1931 to fill an unexpired term, he was reelected in 1934 and 1940. He became special representative to the United Nations by appointment of Pres. Harry S. Truman, June 5, 1946. After his term as senator expired, Austin became U.S. representative at the seat of the United Nations, with the rank of envoy extraordinary and plenipotentiary, and U.S. representative on the Security Council. He was one of several U.S. leaders to disagree with former president Herbert Hoover's suggestion, early in 1950, that the UN proceed without the Communist bloc, which was boycotting the Security Council. It was Austin who led the attack against Soviet efforts to use the UN Security Council as a propaganda sounding board after the Soviets resumed their seat on the council to take advantage of their turn, in rotation, at the presidency in August 1950. Austin repeatedly opposed Soviet delegate Jacob Malik in debates over Korea. On August 1 he led the fight to halt Malik's attempt to seat the Communist China delegation by a ruling of the chair. On August 2 he demanded that the U.S.S.R. submit proposals to end the Korean War, asserting (August 8) that the Soviet Union was assisting the invaders and could call off the attack. He consistently held that the UN rulings of 1947-49 to the effect that Korea must be unified by popular vote must be adhered to, and persistently declared as false Soviet accusations that the South Koreans were the attackers.

Autsai Asenga, Médard (b. Jan. 2, 1942), governor of Orientale (2007- ).

Auvergne, (Jean Calixte) Alexis (b. March 17, 1859 - d. Oct. 30, 1942, Lyon, France), resident-superior of Annam (1897-98, 1901-04).

Avakian

Avakian, Bob, byname of Robert Bruce Avakian (b. March 7, 1943, Washington, D.C.), U.S. political figure. In the San Francisco Bay Area, which was then a hotbed of pro-revolution activists, he founded the Revolutionary Union (RU) in 1969, an offshoot of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). He appeared on a list of 65 "radical" campus speakers published by the House Internal Security (formerly Un-American Activities) Committee in 1970. In 1975 the RU was reconstituted as Revolutionary Communist Party, USA. He remains the chairman of this Maoist group to this day. The party broke with China after the rise of "revisionist" Deng Xiaoping and Avakian was so incensed at Deng's visit to the U.S. in 1979 that he led serious protests against it. A group of his followers attacked the Chinese liaison office in Washington; at Deng's reception, two RCP members, from the press platform, shouted to Deng: "Murderer, you will be overthrown!" and "Traitor! You cannot make of this a garden party! You cannot stop the revolution!" Several hundreds of party members marched to the White House, where they threw bricks and stones at policemen; many were arrested. Avakian and others were booked on multiple felony counts. After the party once more made the news on March 20, 1980, when members scaled the walls of the historic mission-fortress at Alamo and replaced the Texas flag with an all-red one, Avakian fled to France in December 1980 where he remained even when the charges in the U.S. were dropped. From his "exile" the chairman wrote books and recorded speeches, with titles like "Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That?" and "This System is Doomed - Let's Finish it Off!" He appears to have returned to the U.S. in the early 2000s.

Avakumovic

Avakumovic, Jovan (Djordja) (b. Jan. 1, 1841, Belgrade - d. Aug. 3, 1928, Belgrade), prime minister of Serbia (1892-93, 1903).

Avbelj, Viktor (b. Feb. 26, 1914, Prevoje, Austria-Hungary [now in Slovenia] - d. April 3, 1993, Ljubljana, Slovenia), chairman of the Executive Council (1962-65) and president of the People's Assembly (1963-65) and of the Presidency (1979-82) of Slovenia.

Avci

Avelín

Avci, Turgay (b. 1959, Larnaca, Cyprus), foreign minister of North Cyprus (2006-09).

Avdic, Sead (b. May 2, 1944, Gracanica [now in Federation of Bosnia and Hercegovina]), chairman of the House of Representatives of Bosnia and Hercegovina (2000-01).

Avedis Bedros XIV (Arpiarian), Western Armenian for Awetis Petros XIV (Arbyaryan) (b. April 13, 1856, Egin, eastern Turkey - d. Oct. 26, 1937), patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church (1931-37).

Avelín, Alfredo (b. May 1, 1927), governor of San Juan (1999-2002).

Avenol

Avenol, Joseph (Louis Anne) (b. June 9, 1879, Melle, Deux-Sčvres, France - d. Sept. 2, 1952, Duillier, Vaud, Switzerland), secretary-general of the League of Nations (1933-40). With little interest and less skill in international affairs and diplomacy, he was sent to the League from the French Treasury Department in 1922 to handle the organization's finances. He moved up to the top spot in 1933 because the first secretary-general had been British and there had been a private agreement at Versailles that the next would be French. Avenol took office four months after Japan walked out of the League; five months later Germany quit. He worked to stifle criticism and action against these nations in an effort to lure them back. In the League's decisive test - when Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935 - his concern was less to stop Benito Mussolini's aggression but to keep Italy as a member of the League. Finished politically by the Ethiopian fiasco, the League had to watch helplessly as its Free City of Danzig came under the control of the Nazi Party. The League's only response to the unification of Germany and Austria in 1938 was to drop Austria from the dues list. Germany's 1939 invasion of Poland never came up in Geneva. In 1940 Avenol praised Hitler and Mussolini and denounced Britain and the United States. In a final, characteristic act of self-abnegation, he wrote to the Vichy government to affirm his loyalty to puppet leader Marshal Philippe Pétain and offered to resign. Ordered out, he hung on in Geneva another month in a final drive to dismantle the League. Finally, on Aug. 31, 1940, he left Geneva and the League of Nations for good. Spurned by the Vichy government, he had to flee back into Switzerland on New Year's Eve 1943 to avoid arrest by the Germans he had hoped to work with.

Avery, William H(enry) (b. Aug. 11, 1911, near Wakefield, Kan. - d. Nov. 4, 2009), governor of Kansas (1965-67).

Ávila, María Eugenia Brizuela de, née Brizuela (b. Oct. 31, 1956, San Salvador, El Salvador), foreign minister of El Salvador (1999-2004).

Manuel Ávila C.

Ávila Camacho, Manuel (b. April 24, 1897, Teziutlán, Puebla state, Mexico - d. Oct. 13, 1955, Rancho La Herradura, México state), president of Mexico (1940-46). He joined the revolutionary army of Venustiano Carranza in 1914 and rose rapidly through the ranks. He participated actively in the campaign against the Cristeros (a clerical movement against the government in 1926) in Jalisco. A skilled organizer and administrator, he was appointed chief of staff of the Department of War and Navy under Pres. Abelardo Rodríguez (1933) and minister of the same department under Pres. Lázaro Cárdenas (1937). Resigning from his post on Jan. 17, 1939, he won the nomination of the government party, the Partido de la Revolución Mexicana (PRM), and was elected president in a government-controlled election in 1940. As president, he pursued domestic policies of moderation and steady progress. He pacified the Roman Catholic church by a public announcement of his own faith, expanded the school system, built hospitals, sponsored social-security legislation, and supported limited land reform. His administration was noted primarily, however, for the new relationship it established with Mexico's northern neighbour, the United States. The long-standing dispute over the expropriated U.S. oil properties was settled; Mexico supplied needed agricultural labour and raw materials for the Allied war effort, and it declared war on the Axis powers in 1942, even sending pilots to serve in the Pacific. After the left-wing presidency of Cárdenas (1934-40), Ávila Camacho's regime represented a turn to the right, a stabilizing of the thrust of reform, and an institutionalizing of social advances. Retiring from the presidency in 1946, he remained an important political force for the rest of his life.

Ávila Camacho, Maximino (b. August 1893, Teziutlán, Puebla, Mexico - d. Feb. 17, 1945, Puebla, Puebla, Mexico), governor of Puebla (1937-41); brother of Manuel Ávila Camacho. He was also secretary of communications and public works of Mexico (1941-45).

Avon

Avon, (Robert) Anthony Eden, (1st) Earl of, Viscount Eden of Royal Leamington Spa (b. June 12, 1897, Windlestone, Durham, England - d. Jan. 14, 1977, Alvediston, Wiltshire), British prime minister (1955-57). Elected to the House of Commons in 1923, Eden was appointed undersecretary of state for foreign affairs in 1931, lord privy seal (with special responsibility for international relations) in 1934, and minister for League of Nations affairs (a cabinet office created for him) in June 1935. He became foreign secretary in December 1935 but resigned in February 1938 to protest Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. On the outbreak of World War II in 1939, he reentered Chamberlain's government as dominions secretary. When Winston Churchill became prime minister on May 10, 1940, Eden was named secretary of state for war, but from Dec. 23, 1940, until the defeat of the Conservatives in July 1945, he served once more as foreign secretary. On Oct. 27, 1951, after Churchill and the Conservative Party had been returned to power, Eden again became foreign secretary and also was designated deputy prime minister. He succeeded Churchill as prime minister on April 6, 1955. His fall began on July 26, 1956, when Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal Company, in which the British government had been a principal stockholder since 1875. This action led to an Anglo-French attack on Egypt on November 5. By December 22, partly through U.S. pressure, British and French forces had been supplanted by UN emergency units, but the canal was left in Egyptian hands rather than subjected to international control. On Jan. 9, 1957, he resigned. He was knighted (K.G.) in 1954 and created Earl of Avon in 1961.

Avramovski, Siljan (b. April 10, 1960, Skopje, Macedonia), interior minister of Macedonia (2004).

Avril

Avril, (Mathieu) Prosper (b. Dec. 12, 1937, Thomazeau village, near Port-au-Prince, Haiti), president of Haiti (1988-90). He was arrested on May 26, 2001, on charges of plotting against the state. He was freed when Pres. Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted on Feb. 29, 2004.

Awadalla

Awadalla, Babiker, Arabic Abu Bakr Awad Allah (b. 1917, White Nile province [now state], Sudan), speaker of the House of Representatives (1954-57), prime minister (1969), foreign minister (1969-70), and first vice president (1971-72) of The Sudan.

Awang (bin) Hassan, Tun (Datuk Haji) (b. Nov. 10, 1910, Muar, Johor [now in Malaysia] - d. Sept. 12, 1998, Johor), head of state of Penang (1981-89). Earlier he was Malaysian high commissioner to Australia.

Awolowo, Obafemi (b. March 6, 1909, Ikene, Nigeria - d. May 9, 1987, Ikene), Nigerian statesman. Awolowo was involved in the Nigerian youth movement in the early 1950s; he founded the Action Group and took part in constitutional conferences in London and Lagos that preceded independence. He served as premier of the Western Region (1954-59), but ancient rivalries prevented him from attaining higher office after independence in 1960. He was leader of the opposition in the federal Parliament until a tribal quarrel led to his arrest in November 1962. He was sentenced to ten years in prison for plotting to overthrow the government. He was formally elected leader in 1966 of the Yoruba, one of the major tribal groups of Nigeria. Released and pardoned (August 1966) after Lieut. Col. Yakubu Gowon had established a military government, Chief Awolowo became vice-chairman of the federal executive council and was placed in charge of the Ministry of Finance (1967-71). He ran unsuccessfully as Unity Party of Nigeria candidate in the presidential elections of 1979 and 1983.

Axworthy

Axworthy, (Norman) Lloyd (b. Dec. 21, 1939, North Battleford, Sask.), foreign minister of Canada (1996-2000). He worked tirelessly to raise Canada's profile in world affairs using what he called "soft power," but his critics said he was hopelessly idealistic. Axworthy always preferred dialogue to force, multilateral moves to striking out on one's own. He raised the ire of U.S. and British policymakers by calling on NATO to reexamine its nuclear policy, a call widely interpreted to question the doctrine of first-use adopted by NATO member nations. Axworthy publicly maintained the goal of getting rid of all nuclear weapons, even if rogue states which manage to put together a nuclear bomb might then have the ultimate blackmail weapon. Yet, Axworthy supported military action against Iraq and Yugoslavia. Axworthy was also pressing to limit the veto of the United States and other permanent members of the Security Council and to give poorer countries more weight on the body. "The suspicion must be that he has a romantic progressivist vision of Canada leading a multicultural coalition against the rich and greedy West and that he has forgotten that Canada is a part of the West - and that it is his job to protect Canada's interests," the National Post editorialized in January 1999. Axworthy believes that by working for a more civil, more peaceful world, with fewer refugees and civilian casualties and less economic destruction, Canada's interests are also advanced. For that reason he pushed hard for an international war crimes court in 1998. And he tried to get the anti-landmine coalition to turn its attention also to curbing trade in small arms and to stop the use of child soldiers.

Ayala

Ayala Lasso, José (Julio) (b. Jan. 29, 1932, Quito), foreign minister of Ecuador (1977-79, 1997-99). He stepped down after achieving his goal of reaching a peace accord with Peru over a historic border dispute. The agreement was signed in October 1998. In 1994-97 he was UN high commissioner for human rights.

Ayandho, Bernard (Christian) (b. Dec. 15, 1930 - d. 1993), prime minister of the Central African Republic (1979-80).

Ayang

Ayang, Luc (b. 1947, Doukoula, French Cameroons [now in Extreme North province, Cameroon]), prime minister of Cameroon (1983-84).

Ayatskov, Dmitry (Fyodorovich) (b. Nov. 9, 1950, Kalinino village, Saratov oblast, Russian S.F.S.R.), head of the administration (1996) and governor (1996-2005) of Saratov oblast. In 2005 he was to become Russian ambassador to Belarus, but the post has remained vacant because he reportedly offended Belarus officials with comments he made at a news conference in July 2005 before assuming his post.

H. Aydid

Aydid, Hussein (Muhammad Farah), Somali Xusayn Maxamed Farax Caydiid (b. Aug. 16, 1962, Beledweyne, Hiran region, southern Somalia), Somali warlord; son of Gen. Muhammad Farah Aydid. At age 14, he immigrated to southern California with five siblings and his mother, who had separated from his father. In April 1987, he joined the Marines, and was trained as an artilleryman. After basic training in the summer of 1987, he skipped active service and went straight into the reserves. On Dec. 12, 1992, he was sitting in an engineering class when two Marine officers knocked on the door, interrupting the lecture, and said he was urgently needed in Somalia. The United States had just sent 28,000 troops to safeguard UN shipments of food to the starving country. The Marines needed translators. For three weeks, he served as an interpreter and a liaison between the American forces and his father. But the relationship between the UN and Aydid quickly soured, and the Marines sent Hussein home on Jan. 5, 1993. In July 1995, he suddenly returned to Somalia. He notified his commanders that he would miss drills for three months because he would be traveling outside the U.S. His life was about to change dramatically. His father took him under his wing and began grooming him for a top spot in the clan's military organization. When Aydid's forces captured Baidoa in south-central Somalia in September, Hussein was given a large role commanding the forces and got his first taste of combat. Since then, he was in command of all military operations around Baidoa. In August 1996, after his father died of gunshot wounds, his clan elders, meeting behind closed doors, selected the 33-year-old Hussein to become the new president of Aydid's self-proclaimed republic. In 2001 he joined with other faction leaders to form the Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council. In 2004-07 he was interior minister.

M.F. Aydid

Aydid, Muhammad Farah (Somali Maxamed Farax Caydiid), original name Muhammad Farah Hassan (Maxamed Farax Xasan) (b. Dec. 15, 1936, Beledweyne, Hiran region, southern Somalia - d. Aug. 1, 1996, Mogadishu, Somalia), Somali warlord. Muhammad Farah Hassan was given a customary alternative surname by his mother. In Somali the name Aydid means "one with no weaknesses" or "he who will not be insulted." Aydid received military training in Italy and during the 1950s served as the chief of Mogadishu's colonial police. After Somalia became independent (1960), he was promoted to captain. In 1969 he became chief of staff. Dictator Muhammad Siad Barre jailed Aydid for six years, but later Aydid's military skills were needed, and he was promoted to brigadier general. In 1989 he went to Italy and led one of the dissident groups plotting the overthrow of Barre. He returned to Somalia in 1991 after Barre had been forced from Mogadishu, but Ali Mahdi Muhammad, another factional leader, was named interim president. In the interclan warfare that followed, Mogadishu was nearly destroyed. UN and U.S. troops were dispatched in 1992 to attempt to negotiate a peace agreement and facilitate the distribution of food. Shortly after 24 Pakistani peacekeeping troops were killed in a June 5, 1993, ambush in Somalia, Aydid became the UN's first "wanted man." In October 1993 the U.S. in effect called off the manhunt, and Aydid then intensified his campaign against Ali Mahdi. In 1995, though his forces controlled only about half of the country, his supporters elected him president of all of Somalia. He remained, however, on the front lines in command of his troops. He reportedly died of a heart attack a week after having been wounded in battle.

Ayéva, Zarifou (b. April 22, 1942, Sokodé, Tchaoudjo prefecture, northern Togo), foreign minister of Togo (2005-07).

Ayissi

Ayissi, Henri Eyebe (b. Sept. 24, 1955, Mbellé 2 village, Lekie département, Centre province, Cameroon), foreign minister of Cameroon (2007- ).

Aylwin

Aylwin Azócar, Patricio (b. Nov. 26, 1918, Vińa del Mar), president of Chile (1990-94). He joined the Falange Nacional (a breakaway group from the Conservative Party) in 1945 and became its president in 1950 and 1951. Aylwin was one of the founders of the Christian Democratic Party in 1957 and served as its president a number of times (1958-59, 1965, 1973-76, 1987-89, 2001-02). During the government of Pres. Eduardo Frei (1964-70), Aylwin was elected a senator; he held the seat until Augusto Pinochet's coup of September 1973. Following the military coup Aylwin remained active within the Christian Democratic Party, and toward the end of the 1970s he sought to reestablish democratic institutions. He opposed the 1980 constitution imposed by the military government, but by 1982 he was arguing that it should be accepted, taking advantage of any openings to modify it. Under this strategy he complied with the limitations on political parties set by the military, culminating in the plebiscite in 1988 in which he became the spokesman for the Concertación de los Partidos por la Democracia (CPD), a grouping of political parties that had been created in February 1987, originally under the name El Comando por el No. After the resounding "no" vote that paved the way for the end of the Pinochet regime, Aylwin participated in negotiations between the government and the opposition parties that led to the reform of the constitution in July 1989 and his nomination as presidential candidate for the Christian Democratic Party, supported by the CPD. Presidential and congressional elections were held on Dec. 14, 1989, and Aylwin was elected with 55.2% of the vote. He took office March 11, 1990. The military returned to barracks, with Pinochet remaining commander in chief of the Army.

Aymerich, Joseph Gauderique (b. Feb. 20, 1858, Estagel, Pyrénées-Orientales, France - d. June 11, 1937), commandant of Niger (190...-0...) and administrator of French Cameroons (1916).

Aymonier, Étienne (François) (b. Feb. 26, 1844, Le Châtelard, Savoie, France - d. Jan. 21, 1929), acting French representative in Cambodia (1879-81).

G. Ayub Khan

Ayub Khan, Gohar (b. Jan. 8, 1937, Rehana village, near Haripur, North-West Frontier Province, India [now in Pakistan]), foreign minister of Pakistan (1997-98); son of Mohammad Ayub Khan. He was speaker of the National Assembly in 1990-93.

M. Ayub Khan

Ayub Khan, Mohammad (b. May 14, 1907, Rehana village, near Haripur, North-West Frontier Province, India [now in Pakistan] - d. April 19, 1974, near Islamabad, Pakistan), president of Pakistan (1958-69). After the 1947 partition of British India he was rapidly promoted in the army of the new Muslim state of Pakistan: from major general (1948) to commander in chief (1951). In addition, he became minister of defense (1954) for a brief period. After several years of political turmoil in Pakistan, in 1958 Pres. Iskander Mirza, with army support, abrogated the constitution and appointed Ayub as chief martial law administrator. Soon after, Ayub had himself declared president, and Mirza was exiled. Ayub reorganized the administration and acted to restore the economy through agrarian reforms and stimulation of industry. Foreign investment was also encouraged. He introduced the system of "basic democracies" in 1960. It consisted of a network of local self-governing bodies to provide a link between the government and the people. Primary governing units were set up to conduct local affairs; their members were elected by constituencies of 800-1,000 adults. A national referendum among all those elected confirmed Ayub as president. He was reelected under this system in 1965, against a strong challenge from an opposition united behind Fatima Jinnah, sister of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the creator of Pakistan. When the U.S. began to rearm India after China's invasion of northern India in 1962, Ayub established close relations with and received substantial military aid from China. The dispute with India over Jammu and Kashmir worsened, culminating in a two-week war in 1965. The failure to gain Kashmir, combined with student unrest, led him to announce in late 1968 he would not stand for reelection. Riots continued, and he resigned his office on March 26, 1969.

Ayuba, (Abubakar) Tanko (b. April 12, 1945, Zuru [now in Kebbi state], Nigeria), governor of Kaduna (1990-92).

Ayushiyev, Bolot (Vandanovich) (b. June 19, 1949), head of the administration of Agin-Buryat autonomous okrug (1996-97).

Ayyangar, M(adabhushi) Ananthasayanam (b. Feb. 4, 1891, Tiruchanur [now in Andhra Pradesh] - d. March 19, 1978), governor of Bihar (1962-67). He was also speaker of the Lok Sabha (1956-62).

Ayyangar, Sir N(arasimha) Gopalaswami (b. March 31, 1882 - d. Feb. 10, 1953, Madras [now Chennai], India), prime minister of Jammu and Kashmir (1937-43) and defense minister of India (1952-53); knighted 1941.

A.S. Azad

Azad, Abdus Samad (b. Jan. 15, 1922 [other sources say Jan. 15, 1926], Bhurakhali village, Sunamganj district, Bengal, India [now in Bangladesh] - d. April 27, 2005, Dhaka, Bangladesh), foreign minister of Bangladesh (1971-73, 1996-2001). As a special envoy of the country's government-in-exile during its nine-month independence war against Pakistan in 1971, he traveled the world to mobilize international support for Bangladesh's liberation. He was foreign minister, and from 1973 agriculture minister, of Bangladesh's first government, led by independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. After Rahman's assassination in a 1975 coup, Azad was arrested and imprisoned - along with other cabinet colleagues - for three years by the new military rulers. He was appointed foreign minister again in 1996 when Rahman's daughter, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, led his Awami League party back to power after 21 years. Azad was elected a member of parliament five times in 1970-2001. He was also a presidium member of the Awami League.

G.N. Azad

Azarov

Azad, Ghulam Nabi (b. March 7, 1949, Soti village, Doda district, Jammu and Kashmir, India), chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir (2005-08).

Azarov, Mykola (Yanovych), original surname Pakhlo (b. Dec. 17, 1947, Kaluga, Russian S.F.S.R.), first deputy prime minister (2002-05, 2006-07), finance minister (2002-05, 2006-07), acting prime minister (2005), and prime minister (2010- ) of Ukraine. During the disputed 2004 presidential election, he was already acting prime minister for three weeks, standing in for Viktor Yanukovych.

Azcona

Azcona (del) Hoyo, José (Simón) (b. Jan. 26, 1927, La Ceiba, northern Honduras - d. Oct. 24, 2005, Tegucigalpa, Honduras), president of Honduras (1986-90). He was director of the Liberal Action Front from 1962 to 1974 and was a candidate for Congress in Francisco Morazán department for the planned October 1963 general elections, which were canceled because of a military coup. In 1973 he became the coordinator of the Liberal Engineers of the Rodista Liberal Movement (MLR), a faction of the Liberal Party, and in 1975 he was chosen as secretary of organization and publicity for the Central Directorate of the faction. Two years later he became a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Liberal Party as secretary for political training, rising to the committee's presidency in 1983. He was responsible for the organization and publicity of the Central Executive Committee in the Liberal Party's successful campaign in the National Constituent Assembly elections of 1980. After the Liberal Party won the 1981 general elections, he became general secretary of the Central Directorate of the MLR. He was chosen as coordinator of the commission supporting Roberto Suazo Córdova's successful candidacy for the 1982-86 presidency, and himself won a seat in the National Congress. During 1982-83 he held two ministerial posts - of communications and public works and transportation - before resigning because of Suazo's attempts to centralize the Liberal Party. In his own presidential campaign Azcona was supported by the MLR and the Popular Liberal Alliance, a separate Liberal faction. In the Nov. 24, 1985, elections the Liberal Party won a majority of the votes and Azcona the highest number of votes among Liberal candidates. His term was marked by controversy over the presence of armed Nicaraguan contra rebels on Honduran soil. The rebels received U.S. training and aid for their fight against the Sandinista government reviled by Washington. The U.S. sent its own troops to Honduras, at Azcona's request, when the Sandinista army crossed the border to pursue the contras.

Azéma, Jean-Baptiste (b. c. 1697, Lyon, France - d. Oct. 31, 1745, Saint-Denis, Île Bourbon [now Réunion]), commandant of Île Bourbon (1745).

Azeredo, Albuíno Cunha de (b. 1945, Vila Velha, Espírito Santo, Brazil), governor of Espírito Santo (1991-95).

Azevedo

Azevedo, José Baptista Pinheiro de (b. June 5, 1917, Luanda, Angola - d. Aug. 10, 1983, Lisbon, Portugal), prime minister of Portugal (1975-76). The son of a Portuguese official in Angola, he entered the naval academy in Lisbon at 17, starting a long career in the Navy. He returned to Angola years later as commander of the sea defenses (1963-65) at the mouth of the Congo River. In 1972 he took command of the Marine Corps and mobilized support within the Navy for the coming revolution. Immediately after the coup of April 25, 1974, he was promoted to the rank of admiral; he was also the third most powerful member of the ruling junta. Widespread anti-Communist riots preceded his appointment as premier in August 1975. While his revolutionary socialist leanings made him acceptable to the Communists, his political program nevertheless allayed fears of a Communist takeover. Within months, however, his government faced a Communist-led revolt. The crisis was averted, and in its aftermath the administration became more moderate. The following year he unsuccessfully ran for the presidency; lacking the support of any one political party and suffering from ill health during the campaign, he received only 14% of the vote.

Azevedo Coutinho (Fragoso de Sequeira), Joăo (António) de (b. Feb. 3, 1865, Alter do Chăo, Portugal - d. Dec. 7, 1944), governor-general of Mozambique (1905-06).

G.R. Azhari

Azhari, Gholam Reza (b. 1917, Shiraz province, southern Iran - d. Nov. 5, 2001, Washington, D.C.), prime minister of Iran (1978-79). A career military man, he attended Iranian military academies in the 1940s and studied at the National War College in Washington in the 1950s. In early November 1978, General Azhari was a top military official aiding in the crackdown on widespread student protests when he became prime minister in a last-ditch military government that sought unsuccessfully to stanch the revolt against Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. He sent tanks into Tehran, banned public religious processions, shut down newspapers, and sent troops to quell massive oil field strikes. Loyalists of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini used the crackdown to foment support and to help persuade mainstream Iranians to reject any compromise. In a move to placate critics of the shah's government, Azhari also ordered investigations into the finances of the shah's family. The revolution, however, was too far advanced, which he conceded in private to worried American officials. He stepped down as prime minister while rioting spread across Iran and after a heart attack that left him bedridden. He resigned and came to the United States in January 1979 for heart surgery at Bethesda Naval Hospital. During his recovery, the shah fled Iran and his government fell to Islamic revolutionary forces loyal to Khomeini. Azhari settled in McLean, Va., in 1979, living a life of anonymity, attending classes at Georgetown University and the University of Maryland and pursuing his avocation of hiking, with trips to Shenandoah National Park and Catoctin Mountain Park. Among his decorations were the U.S. Legion of Merit.

I. al-Azhari

Azhari, Ismail al-, Arabic Isma`il al-Azhari (b. Oct. 20, 1900, Omdurman, Sudan - d. Aug. 26, 1969), prime minister (1954-56) and chairman of the Sovereignty Council (1965-69) of The Sudan.

Azikiwe

Azikiwe, (Benjamin) Nnamdi, byname Zik (b. Nov. 16, 1904, Zungeru, Nigeria - d. May 11, 1996, Enugu), president of Nigeria (1963-66). He joined the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) - Nigeria's first political party - as secretary-general (1944). On the death of its founder two years later, Azikiwe took over as its head. With the backing of the NCNC, he was elected to the Nigerian Legislative Council. After 1951 the NCNC became increasingly identified with the Igbo (Ibo) people of southern Nigeria. After the election of 1953 he became chief minister and later (1954-59) premier of the Eastern Region. Azikiwe led the NCNC into the important 1959 federal elections, which preceded Nigerian independence. He was able to form a temporary government with the powerful Northern Peoples Congress, but its leader, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, took the key post of prime minister. Azikiwe received the largely honorary posts of president of the Senate, then governor-general (1960), and finally president in 1963 when Nigeria was made a republic. He remained until the first military coup in 1966, which was the first step in tribal rivalry that was to plunge Nigeria into civil war in June 1967 when Igbos in the east tried to set up their own independent state (Biafra) under then Colonel Emeka Ojukwu. In the civil war (1967-70) Azikiwe first backed his fellow Igbo, traveling extensively in 1968 to win recognition of Biafra and help from other African countries. In 1969, however, he threw his support to the federal government, leading to some criticism of his shift. Thereafter, he was one of the leaders opposing the ruling party, became a leader of a newly formed Nigerian People's Party and ran unsuccessfully for president in 1979 and 1983.

Azimov, Rustam (Sodykovich), finance minister of Uzbekistan (1998-2000, 2005- ).

Azimov, Yakhyo (Nuriddinovich), Yakhyo also spelled Yakhye (b. Dec. 4, 1947, Leninabad, Tadzhik S.S.R. [now Khujand, Tajikistan]), prime minister of Tajikistan (1996-99).

S. Aziz

Aziz, Shaukat (b. March 6, 1949, Karachi, Pakistan), finance minister (1999-2004) and prime minister (2004-07) of Pakistan. He was designated the next prime minister after the resignation of Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali in June 2004, but first had to get elected as a member of the National Assembly. On July 30 he survived an assassination attempt blamed on Islamic militants; his driver and eight others were killed in the attack. On August 18 he won a by-election in the Attock district of Punjab, and he took office as prime minister on August 28.

T. Aziz

Aziz, Tariq, original name Michael Yuhanna (b. 1936, Tell Kaif, near Mosul, Iraq), foreign minister of Iraq (1983-91). A Chaldean Catholic, he joined the Ba`th Party in 1957, edited party newspapers, and began to rise through the ranks of Iraqi politics after the party came to power in 1968. In 1974-77, he was a member of the Regional Command - the Ba`th Party's highest governing unit - and served as minister of information. In 1977 he became a member of the Revolutionary Command Council. In 1979 he was named deputy prime minister, a post he held until the collapse of the regime after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. In 1980 he survived an Iranian-backed assassination attempt. As foreign minister, he served as the international spokesman in support of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. He surrendered to U.S. forces on April 24, 2003. On March 11, 2009, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for crimes against humanity in the 1992 execution of Iraqi merchants accused of manipulating food prices.

Aziz Khan, Sardar Mohammad (b. 1877, Dehra Dun, India - d. [killed] June 6, 1933, Berlin, Germany), foreign minister of Afghanistan (1917-19).

Azizan (bin) Zainul Abidin, Tan Sri (Datuk Seri) (b. May 28, 1935, Ayer Itam, Penang, Straits Settlements [now in Malaysia] - d. July 14, 2004, Putrajaya, Malaysia), head of the local authority of Putrajaya (2001-04). He was president and chief executive officer of Petronas (the Malaysian national oil company) in 1988-95 and its chairman from Feb. 10, 1995. On March 1, 1996, he also became president and chief executive of Putrajaya Corporation (Perbadanan Putrajaya), which developed the new federal capital Putrajaya (created as a federal territory in 2001) and also functions as the local authority. He was also chairman of Malaysia Airlines from Feb. 15, 2001. He received the titles of Dato' (July 1979), Tan Sri (June 1987), Datuk Seri (August 1991), and Datuk (September 1991).

Azlan Muhibuddin Shah ibni al-Marhum Yusuf Izzuddin Shah Ghafarullahu-Lah, Tuanku (b. April 19, 1928, Batu Gajah, Perak, Malaya [now in Malaysia]), sultan of Perak (1984- ) and paramount ruler of Malaysia (1989-94).

Azm

Azm, Khalid al-, Arabic Khalid al-`Azm (b. 1903 - d. Nov. 18, 1965, Beirut, Lebanon), foreign minister (1939, 1948-49, 1949-50, 1951, 1955), prime minister (1941, 1946 [acting], 1948-49, 1949-50, 1951, 1962-63) and acting president (1941) of Syria.

Aznar

Aznar (López), José María (b. Feb. 25, 1953, Madrid), prime minister of Spain (1996-2004). In the 1970s and early 1980s he became an active member of the right-wing Popular Alliance, which later became the Popular Party (PP). He was instrumental in leading the party toward the political centre, and the PP elected him to succeed retiring party leader Manuel Fraga Iribarne in 1990. First elected to the Cortes (parliament) from Ávila in 1984, Aznar served as president of Castilla-León in 1987-89. He was elected to the Cortes from Madrid in 1989 and, as head of the PP, continued to reform the party, actively recruiting women and young people and cutting ties to the far right. In 1995 he was slightly wounded by a car bomb that was attributed to the Basque separatist group ETA. During his campaign to become prime minister, he focused on the numerous scandals that had plagued Felipe González Márquez's government, citing them as evidence that the Socialist regime needed to be replaced by a "clean" party. He also was able to turn his uncharismatic popular image to his advantage, stressing his "ordinariness" and his reputation for being an earnest, levelheaded leader. He narrowly defeated González in the 1996 general elections. He was forced to seek the backing of several small, regionally aligned political parties, since the PP had fallen short of winning a legislative majority. In the 2000 elections, however, the PP won an absolute majority. Amongst Aznar's trump cards was one of the highest economic growth rates in Europe. Unemployment had been cut from nearly 23% in 1996 to about 15%. In 2003 he supported the U.S.-U.K. war against Iraq, despite overwhelming public opposition. He did not stand for a third term in 2004, designating Mariano Rajoy to succeed him. However, the PP lost the election three days after a terrorist attack occurred in Madrid which Aznar immediately blamed on ETA, although it later appeared that Islamists were responsible.

Azuara, Amado (b. 1885 - d. [automobile accident] Nov. 2, 1923), governor of Hidalgo (1921-23).

Azuara, Antonio, governor of Hidalgo (1923-25); brother of Amado Azuara.

Azubalis

Azubalis, Audronius (b. Jan. 17, 1958, Vilnius, Lithuanian S.S.R.), foreign minister of Lithuania (2010- ).

Azzam Pasha, (Ali) Abdel Rahman (Hassan), Arabic `Ali `Abd al-Rahman Hasan `Azzam Basha (b. March 8, 1893, Giza, near Cairo, Egypt - d. June 1976, Cannes, France), secretary-general of the Arab League (1945-52). He was given the honorific Pasha by King Faruq I on Dec. 27, 1945.