children nationality birth_date term_end alma_mater profession order term_start spouse image name vicepresident predecessor birth_place president party office successor religion article_title
3 motswana 21 august 1939 1 april 2008 1998 university college , oxford university of sussex economist 3rd 1 april 1998 1992 barbara mogae festus mogae.jpg festus mogae ian khama quett masire peter mmusi serowe , bechuanaland quett masire botswana democratic party president of botswana vice president of botswana ian khama ian khama christian festus mogae

festus mogae

festus gontebanye mogae -lrb- born 21 august 1939 -rrb- is a motswana politician who served as president of botswana from 1998 to 2008 .
he succeeded quett masire as president in 1998 and was reelected in october 2004 ; after ten years in office , he stepped down in 2008 and was succeeded by lieutenant general ian khama .
he is married to barbara mogae , and they have three children : chedza , nametso and boikaego .
mogae studied economics in the united kingdom , first at university college , oxford , and then at the university of sussex .
he returned to botswana to work as a civil servant before taking up posts with the international monetary fund and the bank of botswana .
he was vice-president of botswana from 1992 to 1998 .
mogae 's party , the botswana democratic party -lrb- bdp -rrb- , retained power in the october 1999 general election , and mogae was sworn in for a five-year term on 20 october 1999 by chief justice julian nganunu at the national stadium in gaborone .
on this occasion , he vowed to focus on the fight against poverty and unemployment .
following the bdp 's victory in the october 2004 general election , mogae was sworn in for another term on 2 november 2004 .
mogae promised to tackle poverty and unemployment , as well as the spread of hiv-aids , which he pledged to stop in botswana by 2016 .
on 14 july 2007 , mogae affirmed his intention to resign nine months later .
mogae was awarded the grand cross of the `` légion d'honneur '' by french president nicolas sarkozy on 20 march 2008 for his `` exemplary leadership '' in making botswana a `` model '' of democracy and good governance .
he stepped down as president on 1 april 2008 and was succeeded by vice-president ian khama .
mogae won the 2008 ibrahim prize for achievement in african leadership , and will receive us$ 5 million over 10 years and us$ 200,000 annually for life thereafter .
at london 's city hall on 20 october 2008 , former united nations secretary-general kofi annan stated : `` president mogae 's outstanding leadership has ensured botswana 's continued stability and prosperity in the face of an hiv/aids pandemic which threatened the future of his country and people . ''
mogae currently serves as special envoy of the united nations secretary-general on climate change .
in 2010 , he joined the advisory board of u.s. nonprofit teachaids .
he also currently serves as chairman of the choppies supermarket group where he earned pula 529,000 in 2011 .
along with former president benjamin mkapa of tanzania , mogae co-chaired a sustainable development symposium , hosted by the uongozi institute in collaboration with club de madrid .
organization of which mkapa is also a member .
