President Marien Ngouabi Education Sorbonne Alma mater Sorbonne | Name Henri Lopes Succeeded by Louis Sylvain Goma Role Writer Preceded by Alfred Raoul | |
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Born 12 September 1937 (age 87)
Leopoldville, Belgian Congo
(now Kinshasa, Congo-Kinshasa) ( 1937-09-12 ) Books Tribaliques, Le Chercheur d\'Afriques, The laughing cry, Tribaliks Awards Grand prix litteraire d\'Afrique noire | ||
Political party Congolese Party of Labour | ||
Culture t te t te henri lopes yvan amar la probl matique du m tis chez henri lopes partie 1
Henri Lopès (born 12 September 1937) is a Congolese writer, diplomat, and political figure. He was Prime Minister of Congo-Brazzaville from 1973 to 1975, and since 1998 he has been the Congo-Brazzaville's Ambassador to France.
Contents
- Culture t te t te henri lopes yvan amar la probl matique du m tis chez henri lopes partie 1
- Political and diplomatic career
- As a writer
- Selected awards
- References
Political and diplomatic career
Lopès was born across the Congo River in Leopoldville (now Kinshasa), the capital of the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). He received his primary education in Brazzaville and Bangui, then went to France in 1949 for his secondary and higher education. While there, he was a member of the Executive Committee of the Federation of Black African Students and was President of the Association of Congolese Students from 1957 to 1965. Returning to Congo in 1965, he was a history professor at the Ecole normale supérieure d'Afrique Centrale in Brazzaville from 1965 to 1966, then Director-General of Education from 1966 to 1968.
Under President Marien Ngouabi, Lopès was Minister of National Education from January 1969 until becoming Minister of Foreign Affairs in December 1971. He was included on the five-member Political Bureau of the Congolese Labour Party (PCT) in December 1972. Subsequently he was Prime Minister from 1973 to 1975. He visited China in early 1975, but could not meet with Chairman Mao Zedong because Mao was ill. Lopès and his government resigned following a meeting of the PCT Central Committee in December 1975, and Louis Sylvain Goma was appointed to replace him.
After working as political director of Etumba from 1975 to 1977, Lopès was reappointed to the government as Minister of Finance on 5 April 1977; he served in that position until Justin Lekoundzou was appointed to replace him in December 1980. Subsequently he worked at UNESCO as Assistant Director-General for Culture and Deputy Director-General for Africa from 1981 to 1998.
On 26 October 1998, Lopès presented his credentials as Congo-Brazzaville's Ambassador to France; while posted in Paris, he was additionally accredited as Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain, and the Vatican City.
In 2002, Lopès was a candidate for the post of Secretary-General of the international organization La Francophonie, but he withdrew his candidacy under pressure on the night before the vote, which was held on 20 October 2002 and resulted in the unanimous election of Senegal's Abdou Diouf.
In mid-2015, it was reported that Lopès planned to retire from his post as Ambassador to France.
As a writer
In addition to his distinguished political and diplomatic career, Lopès has earned distinction as a literary author. Perhaps his most acclaimed work is the satirical novel Le Pleurer-rire ("The Laughing Cry", 1982). Other works include the short-story collection Tribaliques ("Tribaliks," 1971), as well as the novels La Nouvelle romance (1975) and Sans tam-tam (1977). His most recent novel, Le Méridional (2015), has been praised as "a fine portrayal of the life of an African long residing in France, narrated by a writer whose life bears some resemblances to Lopes's own".
Tribaliques received the Grand Prix Littéraire de l'afrique noire in 1972, and in 1993 Lopès received the Grand prix de la francophonie of the Académie française for his entire body of work.