biography
| name: |
Stevens, Siaka (Probin)
|
pronunciation:
[shahka]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1905–88)
|
| biography:
| Sierra Leone politician, prime minister (1967), and president (1971–85), born in Tolubu, Sierra Leone. After working in the police force and industry, he was a trade union activist before entering politics, founding the moderate Socialist All People's Congress in 1960. Thanks partly to his mixed Christian and Muslim parentage, he was victorious in the 1967 general election. Army opposition forced him to resign the premiership, but he was returned to power the following year as Sierra Leone's first president under its new constitution. He ruled a one-party state until his retirement at 80. |
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