¡== Africa ==
| Name | Country | Years in power |
Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gamal Abel Nasser | Egypt | 1954-1970 | coup 1954, self-appointment 1956, only-candidate elections from 1956 |
| Kwame Nkrumah | Ghana | 1957-1966 | self-appointment, opposition banned, detention (all from 1964) [1] [2] |
| Ahmed Sékou Touré | Guinea | 1958-1984 | killings [3] [4], widely described as dictator [5] [6] |
| David Dacko | Central African Republic | 1960-1966 1979-1981 |
coup 1979, opposition banned [7] |
| François Tombalbaye | Chad | 1960-1975 | unelected, detention |
| Félix Houphouët-Boigny | Côte d'Ivoire | 1960-1993 | opposition banned until 1990 |
| Modibo Keita | Mali | 1960–1968 | established militia and extra-legal governing body |
| Milton Obote | Uganda | 1962-1972 1980-1985 |
self-appointment and constitution suspended 1966 |
| Hastings Kamuzu Banda | Malawi | 1963-1994 | opposition banned 1966, self-appointment 1971, killings |
| Mobutu Sese Seko | Zaïre | 1965-1997 | kleptocrat, personality cult, opposition banned until 1990 |
| Jean-Bédel Bokassa | Central African Republic | 1966-1979 | coup 1966, abolished constitution, self-appointment 1976 [8] |
| Gnassingbé Eyadéma | Togo | 1967-2005 | coup 1967, no elections until 1998, personality cult, banned opposition, torture, killings [9] |
| Omar Bongo | Gabon | 1967 to date | one-party state from 1968, no elections until 1990, accusations of nepotism |
| Moussa Traoré | Mali | 1968-1991 | coup 1968, opposition banned, one-party state from 1979 |
| Francisco Nguema | Equatorial Guinea | 1968-1979 | self-appointment 1972, personality cult, killings |
| Muammar al-Qaddafi | Libya | 1969 to date | coup 1969 |
| Gaafar Nimeiry | Sudan | 1969-1985 | coup 1969, opposition banned, laws imposed (Sharia) |
| Maxamed Siyaad Barre | Somalia | 1969-1991 | coup 1969, personality cult |
| Anwar Sadat | Egypt | 1970-1981 | unelected, suppressed opposition ("The Corrective Revolution") |
| Idi Amin | Uganda | 1971-1979 | self-appointment 1976, expulsions, killings |
| Juvénal Habyarimana | Rwanda | 1973-1994 | coup 1973, unelected |
| Mengistu Haile Mariam | Ethiopia | 1974-1991 | one-party state, opposition repressed, killings |
| Jean-Baptiste Bagaza | Burundi | 1976-1987 | widely described as dictator [10] [11] |
| Albert René | Seychelles | 1977-2004 | one-party state, established compulsory education involving political indoctrination and paramilitary training |
| Daniel arap Moi | Kenya | 1978-2002 | established de jure one-party state, repression, torture, detention |
| Teodoro Mbasogo | Equatorial Guinea | 1979 to date | coup 1979, opposition effectively banned |
| José Eduardo dos Santos | Angola | 1979 to date | one-party state, no elections until 1992 [12] |
| Samuel K. Doe | Liberia | 1980-1990 | coup 1980, probable kleptocrat [13] |
| Hosni Mubarak | Egypt | 1981 to date | unelected until 2005 |
| André Kolingba | Central African Republic | 1981-1993 | coup 1981, opposition persecuted, lost free election 1993, attempted coup 2001 |
| Hissène Habré | Chad | 1982-1990 | coup 1982, opposition leaders executed |
| Omar Hasan Ahmad al-Bashir | Sudan | 1989 to date | coup 1989, implicated in Darfur conflict |
| Zine El Abidine Ben Ali | Tunisia | 1987 to date | politics repressed, censorship |
| Idriss Déby | Chad | 1990 to date | coup 1990, opposition and press suppressed [14] |
| Sani Abacha | Nigeria | 1993-1998 | coup 1993, opposition persecuted, detention |
| Laurent-Désiré Kabila | Congo-Kinshasa | 1997-2001 | coup 1997, no elections held during interstate First and Second Congo Wars |
| Charles Taylor | Liberia | 1997-2003 | elected but widely described as dictator [15] [16] [17], implicated in conflict diamond and illegal arms trading |
| François Bozizé | Central African Republic | 2003 to date | coup 2003, constitution suspended [18] |
| Ely Ould Mohamed Vall | Mauritania | 2005 to date | coup 2005 |