His Excellency, Mr. Festus Gontebanye Mogae, is the former president of Botswana and chairman of the Champions for an HIV-Free Generation.
He first became president in April 1998 as the leader of the Botswana Democratic Party and won a second term in 2004. Under his stewardship of the economy and careful management of the country’s mineral resources, Botswana experienced steady economic growth that has characterized its post-independence history.
Mr. Mogae has also won international praise for his efforts to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Botswana, one of the countries hit hardest by the disease. He is credited as one of the first heads of state in the world to publically test for HIV. He was one of the first African leaders to chair his country’s National AIDS Council, and he continues to chair the council today. Under Mogae’s administration, Botswana became the first country in Africa to provide free ant-retroviral therapy to all of its citizens in need. In 2004, he introduced routine “opt-out” HIV testing, which has since dramatically increased the number of people who know their HIV status.
Mogae has received a number of awards, including the 2008 Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership and the Grand Cross of the Legion d’honneur by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. In September 2008, he was appointed by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as one of his four Special Envoys on Climate Change. He also serves as chairman of the Advisory Board of Coalition of Dialogue on Africa (CoDA).
