"We prefer poverty in liberty to riches in slavery."
—Ahmed Sékou Touré

Ahmed Sékou Touré (1922-1984) was an African political leader and president of the Republic of Guinea from 1958 to his death in 1984. His main achievement, besides being the nation's effective dictator for twenty-six years, was his aid in the achievement of Guinean independence from France.

Sekou's first work in a political group was in the PTT. In 1945, he was one of the founders of the syndicate of workers. Despite his youth, he became the general secretary of the PTT. In 1952, he became the leader of the Guinean Democratic Party which was local section of the RDA, a party agitating for the decolonization of Africa . He was a leader of this organization with Houphoet-Boigny who later became the president of Ivory Coast. Sekou was generally perceived as very charismatic in his country and in the wider African community, although as always exceptions existed. Sekou served for some time as a representative of African groups in France, where he worked to negotiate for the independence of France's African colonies.

During his presidency Sekou Toure was generally well respected among Guineans, although this is hard to tell given that during elections he did not have meaningful opposition since most of it, at any given point, was jailed. This has led to considerable criticism for failing to institute meaningful democracy. Toure's control extended to the media.[3].

Nevertheless, during the reign of Toure Guinea was relatively stability; even if people were poor everybody was poor. This is often contrasted with economic chasms that have since opened between rich and poor.

The camp Boiro in particular was a place of terror, where political opponents of Toure were jailed. Generally, there was a very small chance of survival for those imprisoned there. Again, the camp's origins may lie in Toure's study of Communist philosophy and government in the Soviet Union. At that time Guinea was very poor and economically it was difficult to live there. Toure is particularly blamed for the "brain drain" exodus of skilled Guineans to other countries where they were able to make more money and live freer lives.