La Francophonie & the Summits

Habib Bourguiba (1903–2000) was a lawyer and nationalist leader who became Tunisia’s first president in 1957 and remained in office until 1987. He co-founded the Neo-Destour party with other nationalists in 1934 and played a central role in Tunisia’s struggle for independence, achieved in 1956. Under his leadership, Tunisia expanded education and adopted the Personal Status Code in 1956, which strengthened women’s legal rights and prohibited polygamy. At the same time, his government restricted political pluralism and maintained strong one-party control. Bourguiba supported cooperation among French-speaking countries, and the OIF recognizes him as one of the four founding fathers of the institutional Francophonie.

Hamani Diori (1916–1989) was a teacher and politician who became Niger’s first president when the country gained independence in 1960. Before independence, he represented Niger in the French National Assembly and became a leading figure in the Nigerien Progressive Party. As president, he promoted regional diplomacy and cooperation among French-speaking African countries. Niger hosted important Francophonie meetings in Niamey, including the conference at which representatives of 21 states and governments created the ACCT on 20 March 1970. Today, the OIF recognizes him as a founding father of the Francophonie.

Norodom Sihanouk is best remembered as Cambodia’s independence-era monarch, but he was also a founding figure of institutional Francophonie. Educated in French colonial schools, he became fluent in French and moved comfortably in international diplomatic and cultural circles, even while leading Cambodia’s fight for independence from France, achieved in 1953. He drew a clear distinction between opposing French colonial power and valuing the French language as a useful diplomatic and cultural tool: writing, filmmaking, and composing music that projected Cambodian identity to the world. In the late 1960s, Sihanouk joined Léopold Sédar Senghor, Habib Bourguiba, and Hamani Diori in founding what became the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, established in Niamey in 1970, reimagining French as a language of cooperation among equals rather than colonial dominance. Cambodia later joined the OIF in 1993 and took part in Asia’s first Francophonie Summit, held in Hanoi in 1997. Now, in November 2026, Cambodia will host the 20th Francophonie Summit in Phnom Penh, a fitting, full-circle tribute to Sihanouk’s founding role in shaping French from a colonial legacy into a bridge between independent nations.

Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906–2001) was a poet, teacher, and statesman who served as Senegal’s first president from 1960 to 1980. While living in Paris during the 1930s, he helped develop Négritude, a literary and intellectual movement affirming Black identity and culture. He viewed the shared use of French as a means of dialogue and cooperation between cultures while also defending African cultural identity. Together with Bourguiba, Diori, and King Sihanouk, he promoted the institutional Francophonie that led to the creation of the Agency for Cultural and Technical Cooperation (ACCT) in Niamey in 1970. In 1983, he was elected to the Académie française in recognition of his literary and cultural importance.