Ismaël Touré | |
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Minister of Public Works | |
In office 1957 – January 1963 |
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Minister of Economic Development | |
In office January 1963 – May 1969 |
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Succeeded by | Louis Lansana Beavogui |
Minister of Economy and Finance | |
In office 1972 – March 1984 |
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Personal details | |
Born | 1926 Faranah, Guinea |
Died | 8 July 1985 Guinea |
Nationality | Guinean |
Ismaël Touré (1925/1926 - 8 July 1985) was a Guinean political figure and the half brother of President Ahmed Sékou Touré. He was the chief prosecutor at the notorious Camp Boiro.
Ismaël Touré was born in Faranah, Guinea in 1926. He attended school in Paris along with his compatriot Boubacar Telli Diallo. He was trained as a meteorologist.
In 1956 he served on the local council in Kankan, where he was also head of the weather station and was elected as a territorial adviser to the Faranah Prefecture. He was elected Minister of Public Works in 1957 and Minister of Economic Development in January 1963. He became a member of the tight-knit group of close relatives who supported President Sékou Touré and who became the primary beneficiaries of the regime. Decisions were often based on personal interests. For example, rather than encourage mining of Guinea's rich iron ore deposits, Ismaël Touré preferred to transport iron ore from Liberia using the Transguinean Railways.
Ismaël Touré led the Organization for Solidarity for the People of Africa and Asia (OSPAAAL) when it met for the first time in Cairo, Egypt in 1957. He was president of the board responsible for solidarity funds, assisted by two vice-chairmen, Mehdi Ben Barka of Morocco and Chu Tzu-chi of the People's Republic of China. However, by 1959 he was in favor of closer ties with the United States and other western countries, in opposition to Keita Fodéba, who saw advantages in alignment with the communist bloc. Sékou Touré maintained a non-aligned position.
In May 1969, Touré was replaced as Minister of Economic Affairs by Louis Lansana Beavogui, who was given the newly created post of Prime Minister in April 1972.