William Eteki
| William Eteki Mboumoua | |
|---|---|
| 3rd Secretary-General of the Organisation of African Unity | |
|
In office 16 June 1974 – 21 July 1978 |
|
| Preceded by | Nzo Ekangaki |
| Succeeded by | Edem Kodjo |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
20 October 1933 Bonadibong, Douala, Cameroon |
| Died | 26 October 2016 (aged 83) Yaoundé, Cameroon |
| Nationality | Cameroonian |
William Aurélien Eteki Mboumoua (20 October 1933 – 26 October 2016) was a Cameroonian political figure and diplomat. He had a long career as a minister in the government of Cameroon; from 1961 to 1968, he was Minister of National Education, and from 1984 to 1987, he was Minister of Foreign Affairs. Etéki Mboumoua was also Secretary-General of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) from 1974 to 1978. Later Eteki Mboumoua was President of the Cameroon Red Cross.
Born in the Bonadibong section of Douala in 1933, Etéki Mboumoua studied in France during the 1950s. He was Prefect of Nkam and Sanaga-Maritime from 1958 to 1961—a tumultuous time for those areas—and was then appointed to the government as Minister of National Education on 20 October 1961. He remained in the latter post until 1968, holding the additional portfolios of youth, sports, and culture during that period. He was also a member of the Executive Board of UNESCO from 1962 to 1968, becoming its Vice-President in 1967, and he was President of the UNESCO General Conference from 1968 to 1970.
Etéki Mboumoua was Special Adviser to President Ahmadou Ahidjo from 1971 to 1973. Following the 1974 resignation of Nzo Ekangaki, a fellow Cameroonian, as Secretary-General of the OAU, Ahidjo proposed Etéki Mboumoua as a candidate for that office. At an OAU meeting in Mogadishu in June 1974, the OAU's election process became deadlocked between a candidate from Somalia and a candidate from Zambia, with neither of them able to secure a two-thirds majority; as a result, Etéki Mboumoua was unanimously elected as a compromise choice.
After Somalia invaded Ethiopia in July 1977, the OAU attempted to mediate the situation in August, but the Somali government refused to participate, protesting the exclusion of its allies, the Western Somali Liberation Front (WSLF). Etéki Mboumoua stated that the OAU did not consider the WSLF a true liberation movement; the Somalis in turn criticised the OAU for allegedly failing to promote African liberation.
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