Topic: Alassane Ouattara

Alassane Dramane Ouattara (French pronunciation: ; born 1 January 1942) is an Ivorian politician who has been President of Côte d'Ivoire since 2011. An economist by profession, Ouattara worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Central Bank of West African States (French: Banque Centrale des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest, BCEAO), and he was the Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire from November 1990 to December 1993, appointed to that post by President Félix Houphouët-Boigny. He became President of the Rally of the Republicans (RDR), a political party, in 1999.

Standing as the RDR's candidate in the 2010 presidential election, Ouattara placed second in the first round. In the second round, he faced incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo; the result was disputed, with both Ouattara and Gbagbo claiming victory. Most sovereign authorities outside Côte d'Ivoire, including the United Nations Security Council, accepted the validity of Ouattara's claim and recognized him as the new President-elect of the country. A major political crisis followed, effectively ending with Gbagbo's capture and arrest on 11 April 2011. Ouattara was formally sworn in by the constitutional authorities on 6 May 2011.

Ouattara was born on 1 January 1942, in Dimbokro, Côte d'Ivoire, French West Africa. Outtara's father's side of the family is from Burkina Faso, a fact that twice barred him from running for the presidency. He is a descendant from his fathers side of the Muslim rulers of the Kong Empire, also known as the Wattara or Ouattara Empire. He received a bachelor's of science degree in 1965 from the Drexel Institute of Technology, which is now called Drexel University, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ouattara then obtained both his master's degree in economics in 1967 and a doctorate in economics in 1972 from the University of Pennsylvania.