Just who was President Said Mohamed Cheikh?

Said Mohamed Cheikh was born on the island of Grande Comore, in Mitsamiouli, into a noble family (clan Hinya Fwambaa by the father and a family of Washili). He had his primary education at the official school of Mitsamiouli. He had his secondary education at the regional school of Mutsamudu before following higher education in the school of medicine of Antananarivo in Madagascar, studies which he ends in 1928. He was therefore the first Comoran doctor. His first post was Foumboni in Grande Comore as a doctor before being assigned to Fomboni Mohéli. He was a military doctor in Majunga (Madagascar, from 1936 till 1944).

During the second world war in March and April 1940, there was a rebellion in the colonial plantations of Nyumakele (Anjouan), because of the precarious living conditions of the indigenous population. The colonial administration interpreted this uprising as being a manoeuvre of the enemies of France aiming to destabilize the island. The governor general had dispatched in Anjouan a mission of pacification driven by the inspector Thomas. Saïd Mohamed Cheikh was part of the deputation. He played a role determining in the resolution of this crisis. The French army did not intervene. The peaceful exit of this crisis projected Saïd Mohamed Cheikh in the first rank of the political stage. From this instant it started its political career. The population of Nyumakele will be thankful to him for a long time.

He left medicine absolutely in 1945 and launched into politics by becoming delegated within the French National Assembly from 1945 till 1961. He registered in the socialist group (democratic and socialist Union of the Resistance) beside Rasata, Ravoangy and Rabemanajary which assembled in Paris with other African Nationalist Leaders such as Félix Houphouet-Boigny of Ivory, Leopold Sédar Senghor and Lamine Guey of Senegal. He was the green party leader, opposed by the white party of Said Ibrahim Ben and Sultan Said Ali.

In 1954, he was the diplomatic representative at United Nations General Assembly on behalf of France. Dr. Said Mohamed Cheikh was considered to be, in the period leading up to independence, the most important political leader in the islands. Cheikh was elected to be the first president of the Governing Council of the Comoros Chamber of Deputies in 1961, a post he held until he died of a heart attack in 1970 in the capital of Madagascar (Antananarivo). Cheikh was buried in Moroni in the Comoros.

In 1978, the government issued high value gold coins worth 10,000 and 20,000 francs which bore the likeness of Cheikh. Postage stamps bearing his likeness were issued in 1973. He also had a stadium named after him, which was opened in 2007 as part of FIFA's Win in Africa with Africa program. Stade Said Mohamed Cheikh is a multi-use stadium in Moroni, Comoros, which is mainly used for football matches. It replaced Stade de Beaumer as the home of the Comoros national football team and was the first stadium in the Comoros to host a CAF Champions League match.

Apologies for any grammatical mistakes etc, this information was translated from a French site: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Said_Mohamed_Cheikh, as well as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stade_Said_Mohamed_Cheikh and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Said_Mohamed_Cheikh