Ahmadou Ahidjo; 1st President of Cameroon

Ahmadou Ahidjo, 65, who served as president of the West African nation of Cameroon for 22 years after it achieved its independence from France in 1960. Ahidjo, a key figure in the independent African movement, was forced into exile in 1983 after being accused of plotting against the government. A year earlier he had resigned and handed the presidency to a longtime associate, Paul Biya, remaining as head of Cameroon’s only political party. He was sentenced to death in absentia but the sentence was later commuted to prison. Ahidjo never returned to his native land. In Dakar, Senegal, of a heart attack on Nov. 30.