Senegalese intellectual and politician Amadou Mahtar Mbow, who headed the UN's cultural agency, UNESCO, for 13 years, has died at the age of 103, Senegal's press agency (APS) said Tuesday.
Mbow, who served as director-general of UNESCO from 1974 to 1987, was a symbolic figure in Senegal and the wider African continent, where he championed the causes of education and peace.
He died on Monday night in the capital Dakar, APS reported.
"It is with deep emotion that I learn of the death of Professor Amadou Mahtar Mbow," Senegal's President Bassirou Diomaye Faye posted on X, describing him as a "great defender of multilateralism".
"It's one of the patriarchs of the Senegalese nation who has passed away, leaving an inestimable legacy, marked by his fight for global educational and cultural justice," he added.
Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko also paid tribute to "a great intellectual and man of culture" who "devoted his life to our nation and to Africa".
UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay on Tuesday honoured Mbow's work and legacy at the helm of the UN agency.
"The first African to head an international organisation, a convinced humanist and a consummate intellectual, he left a profound mark on our institution by forcefully defending the need for solidarity and equal dignity between peoples and cultures," she told AFP.
Born in 1921 while his country was still under the colonial rule of France, Mbow went on to become actively involved in the fight for Senegal's independence.
After studying in France, Mbow returned to his home country where he taught history and geography.
He later served as education minister and culture minister under Senegal's first president Leopold Sedar Senghor.
In 2008, aged 87, Mbow chaired the National Conference of Senegal, a wide-ranging citizens' consultation aimed at addressing the country's political and social problems.