Fodé Bangoura

Fodé Bangoura is a Guinean political figure, once a key aide to president Lansana Conté.

Born in Koba, in Boffa Prefecture, Bangoura studied history and geography at the Gamel Abdel Nasser Polytechnical Institute in Conakry before joining the Faculty of Social Sciences. In 1991 he entered the Guinean cabinet, serving as Minister of State for Tourism and Hotelliery. The following year he was named Minister of Commerce, Transport, and Tourism, in which capacity he served until 1994; from then until 1997 he was the Director of Protocol for the presidency. In 1997 he was named Secretary General of the Presidency, a cabinet-level position.

On April 5, 2005, Bangoura won a scuffle against Cellou Dalein Diallo, then prime minister, who was soon after dismissed from his post for "grave faults"; the position was then abolished, and Bangoura was named Minister of State in Charge of Presidential Affairs, making him the "de facto" second-in-command of Guinea. Another battle, in September of 2006, pitted him against Mamadou Sylla, head of Futurelec Holding, Guinea's richest man, and a close confidant of President Conté. On September 23, Sylla was prevented entry into Conakry by the military. He had accused Bangoura of being behind a series of audits conducted against Futurelec; the president himself intervened in the matter, and Sylla was freed.

A strike action beginning on January 9, 2007 further made Bangoura's position untenable. As a result of the strike, salaries were reevaluated and numerous public liberties granted; the matter symbolized the end of general corruption in public life, of which Sylla's treatment had become a particular emblem. Consequently, Bangoura was dismissed, being replaced with Eugène Camara.

Reference

*translation/ref|fr|Fodé Bangoura