Maurice Yaméogo

Maurice Yaméogo

Maurice Yaméogo (born December 31, 1921 (?) In Koudougou ; † September 9, 1993 in Ouagadougou ) was the first president of Upper Volta, today's Burkina Faso , from 1960 to 1966 .

Early years

Yaméogo belonged to the Mossi ethnic group , the largest ethnic group in the country. After attending mission schools, he studied in the seminary of Pabré to become a Catholic priest, but lost his vocation as a priest when he met Félicité Zagré, who later became his wife. He then entered the administrative service.

Political career

Since 1946 he was a member of the parliament of the French overseas territory and in 1948 was elected to the council of French West Africa . In addition, he was involved in the trade union movement and in 1954 became deputy chairman of the Christian trade union confederation Confédération française des travailleurs chrétiens (CFTC) for Upper Volta. He initially belonged to the Parti Démocratique Unifié party , which was part of the Rassemblement Démocratique Africain (RDA) collection movement . In 1957 he founded the Mouvement Démocratique VoltaÏque party . In the elections, his grouping won 26 of the 70 seats, while the RDA had 37 MPs. He became Minister of Agriculture in a coalition government. At the end of the year the coalition broke up and he switched to the RDA. In 1958 he became Minister of the Interior and after the death of the previous head of government, Ouezzin Coulibaly, his successor. He supported his country's accession to the planned Mali Federation . Massive pressure from Félix Houphouët-Boignys from the Ivory Coast led him to renounce joining the Federation. A renewed breakdown of the coalition led to new elections on March 30, 1959, which Yaméogo and his new party Union Démocratique VoltaÏque (UDV) won with 64 of 75 seats. In January 1960, the main opposition party was banned and most of its leaders were imprisoned.

president

With the independence of Obervolta on August 5, 1960, he became president and at times also took over the office of foreign minister . From 1961 to 1962 he was also Minister of Defense and from 1963 to 1965 Minister of Internal Security. The existing parties were merged with the UDV to form a single party . Opposition parties were no longer allowed. In foreign policy he endeavored to work closely with neighboring countries, especially with the Ivory Coast and the Afro-Madagascar Union .

He was the only candidate to be confirmed in office on October 3, 1965 with 99.9% of the votes. After violent protests against his authoritarian policies, he was forced to resign after a general strike on January 3, 1966. He was succeeded by General Sangoulé Lamizana for the next fourteen years .

He was under arrest until 1968 and was taken back into custody in 1983 after the coup that led Thomas Sankara to head the state. After his release in 1985, he went into exile in Ivory Coast and returned in 1990.

This and that

In 1964 he separated from his wife and married a former Miss Upper Volta . His son from his first marriage, Hermann Yaméogo , ran in the presidential election on November 13, 2005 against President Blaise Compaoré, who has been in office since 1987 . He withdrew his candidacy before the election date, but his name remained on the ballot papers. He reached eleventh place with 15,685 votes (0.76%).

literature

• Ronald Segal: African Profiles . Prestel 1963

Web links

• Election results in the African Elections Database (English)