André Obami Itou

André Obami Itou (born 26 September 1940) is a Congolese politician. He has been a leading figure in the Congolese Labour Party (PCT) since the 1970s, and he has been the President of the Senate of Congo-Brazzaville since 2007.

An ethnic Teke, Obami Itou was born at Epouéné, Gamboma, located in Plateaux Region. He began working at the Ministry of Defense in 1965. Obami Itou was a founding member of the PCT in December 1969, and he was first councillor at the Congolese embassy in Algeria from 1969 to 1971. He became government commissioner, or prefect, of Bouenza Region in 1971, and he joined the PCT Central Committee in 1972; he remained on the Central Committee throughout the PCT's single-party rule.

Obami Itou was the director-general of the Kinsoundi textile factory from 1973 to 1974, an ambassador-at-large from 1975 to 1976, and director-general of the national oil refinery from 1976 to 1978. In 1979, he briefly served as Administrator-Mayor of Brazzaville, the capital; subsequently he was political commissioner of the Pool Region from 1980 to 1984.

At the PCT's Third Ordinary Congress, held on 27–31 July 1984, Obami Itou was elected as President of the PCT Control and Verification Commission. He remained in that post until July 1987, when he was instead designated as the PCT Central Committee's Secretary for Organization. Obami Itou, who was known as a loyalist of President Denis Sassou Nguesso, thereby gained power over party organization at the expense of Camille Boungou, who was identified with the PCT's M-22 faction. Obami Itou was elected to the PCT Political Bureau at the party's Fourth Ordinary Congress on 26–31 July 1989 and assigned responsibility for foreign relations. In mid-1990, he was included as one of five members of the Secretariat of the PCT Central Committee, in charge of foreign relations. Later, he was appointed as the Administrator-Delegate of Hydro-Congo, the country's oil exploration and exploitation company, on 31 December 1999; he held that position until 2002.

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