Sawaba
Union of Popular Forces for Democracy and Progress–Sawaba Union des Forces Populaires pour la Démocratie et le Progrès – Sawaba | |
---|---|
Center-left (from 1991) | |
International affiliation | African Socialist Movement |
Judiciary |
---|
The Union of Popular Forces for Democracy and Progress–Sawaba (
History
Pre-independence
Sawaba was an outgrowth of several sources, and passed through several name changes prior to Niger's independence from France in 1959-1960. Under first the French Union and then the French Community, the colonies of French West Africa began to develop semi-autonomous political institutions in the decade and a half of the French Fourth Republic. Territories, like Niger, were granted consultative posts, first to the colonial government of West Africa (in Dakar), and later in Territorial Assemblies. These bodies had very limited powers, limited seats for Africans, and those elected were chosen by a very restricted electorate.[1]
In 1946 the single pro-independence party in Niger was the
Formation of UDN
In the interim, the PPN split further. The RDA, never ideologically cohesive, finally split from the French Communist Party, in 1951, in part because of the ideological differences of most African independence leaders with Communism, but also under pressure of vehemently anti-communist Colonial administrators in French West Africa, and at the urging of moderates like the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) in the French Assembly. The PPN then split on the issue of connection to the Communists, a rupture that had been growing since its formation. Djibo Bakary was expelled from the RDA for his refusal to break from the PCF, and the left of the PPN formed the UDN (Nigerien Democratic Union) in 1954.[1]
The UDN, although small in numbers and led by a leftist Djerma intellectual, had powerful support amongst elements of the Hausa east of Niger, who viewed the UNIS (one of whose leaders was the
Rule
In the 1955 Territorial elections, the BNA defeated the PPN, with the UDN making little ground. But politics in the Niger Territory of this period was a largely unideological game of traditional and urban elites.[citation needed] The 1955 elections saw less than 250,000 votes cast in a nation of almost 3 million, and these were mostly won in blocks directed by the elite of Djermakoys, Sultans, Mais, Sarkis, and chiefs.[citation needed] Between 1954 and 1956, Bakary and the UDN managed to cobble together a coalition of Zinder merchants, Maradi notables, the Djermakoy and his BNA party, and the tiny urban labour and leftist movements of Niamey.[4][5] This last group led the UDN into an interterritorial faction called the African Socialist Movement (MSA). The UDN absorbed the BNA, and took the name "Sawaba": Hausa for "Freedom". In the run up to the 1956 Niger colony municipal elections, while negotiations were still ongoing to create the MSA bloc, the Nigerien party preemptively rechristened itself Mouvement Socialiste Africain–Sawaba.[1]
This new bloc, aided by the distaste of the French authorities for the PPN, led Sawaba to victory in Niamey and Hausaland. In 1956 Bakary became the mayor of Niamey.[6] In 1957 the party won the Territorial legislative elections, and Bakary, as party leader, became President of the Niger Territorial Assembly.[7][8][1]
But Sawaba's left soon fell afoul of the Territories French administrator, Governor Colombani.
The French authorities in Guinea failed to, despite much effort, to encourage or coerce a "yes" vote, and it became the first of the French African colonies to declare independence in December 1958. Sawaba, on the other hand, was roundly defeated, garnering barely 20% of the vote. Its Hausa, Fulani and Djerma traditionalist leaders deserted the party and the French withdrew their support and began to aid the PPN, who had formed their own coalition to advocate for a "Yes" vote on the referendum. The vote was immediately followed by one for the new Nigerien Constituent Assembly which was to replace the Territorial Assembly under the French plan. The PPN not only won, but took 44 seats to Sawaba's 8.[7][5][1]
With the ascension of Diori and the PPN, Sawaba was banned by the authorities in 1959, just prior to the first elections for the new
Post-independence
Underground 1960-1974
In June 1960, 18 Sawabists were arrested on conspiracy charges, including Abdoulaye Mamani, Amadou Sekou and Issaka Koke. The party was forced underground. Bakary went into exile, to Ghana, East Germany and Guinea until 1975.[9]
Gradually Sawaba moved from a pro-
1974-91
Following the 1974 coup which removed Diori, Bakary returned to Niger in an attempt to bring Sawaba above ground, but he, like his old rival, was confined to house arrest under the military regime in 1977, accused of breaking his pledge to say out of politics.[1][12]
Post-1991
Following the move to democratization in 1991-1993, Sawaba re-emerged as a left-wing parliamentary party. Bakary led the party, now called the UDFP–Sawaba. In 1992, the tiny party split further, with the UDFR–Sawaba moving to a center-left position and from 1991 to 1996 becoming a minor member of the
References
- ^ ISBN 0-8108-3136-8pp. 56-59 ("Bakary"), 247-255 ("Political Parties"), 272 ("SAWABA")
- ^ Decalo (1997), p.243.
- ^ Decalo (1997), p.242.
- ^ ISBN 0-521-25268-7
- ^ a b c d Finn Fuglestad. Djibo Bakary, the French, and the Referendum of 1958 in Niger. The Journal of African History, Vol. 14, No. 2 (1973), pp. 313-330
- ^ Behnke, Alison. Niger in pictures. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books, 2008. p. 28
- ^ a b c d Mamoudou Djibo. Les enjeux politiques dans la colonie du Niger (1944-1960). Autrepart no 27 (2003), pp. 41-60.
- ^ Abbink, J./de Bruijn, Mirjam/van Walraven, Klaas. Rethinking resistance revolt and violence in African history. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2003. p. 225
- ISBN 978-90-04-12624-4p. 226
- ^ Klaas Van Walraven. From Tamanrasset: The struggle of Sawaba and the Algerian connection, 1957-1966. The Journal of North African Studies, Volume 10, Issue 3 & 4 September 2005 , pages 507 - 528
- ^ van Walraven (2003) p. 218
- ^ van Walraven (2003) p. 226