Joaquim Chissano

Joaquim Alberto Chissano was born on October 22, 1939, in the rural village of Malehice in southern Mozambique. Overcoming colonial barriers to attend high school in Lourenço Marques, Chissano traveled to Portugal to study medicine before fleeing to join Eduardo Mondlane and Samora Machel in founding FRELIMO (Mozambique Liberation Front) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in 1962.

Following Mozambique's independence in 1975, Chissano served for eleven years as the nation's Foreign Minister. When President Samora Machel died in a tragic plane crash in October 1986, Chissano was elected President of Mozambique. Inheriting a country ravaged by a brutal sixteen-year civil war against RENAMO insurgents and crippling economic famine, Chissano demonstrated extraordinary moral courage and pragmatic statesmanship.

In 1990, he introduced a progressive, multi-party democratic constitution guaranteeing press freedom, judicial independence, and religious liberty. In 1992, in Rome, Chissano signed the historic General Peace Agreement with RENAMO leader Afonso Dhlakama, permanently silencing the guns. Winning democratic elections in 1994 and 1999, Chissano presided over one of Africa's fastest-growing post-conflict economies, reducing poverty and repatriating millions of refugees. In 2004, despite having the constitutional option to seek another term, he voluntarily retired. In 2007, he was awarded the inaugural US$5 million Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership.