Pierre Vidal (politician)

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Pierre François Vidal (born July 27, 1906 in Mérida , Mexico , † July 2, 1967 in Toulouse ) was a French entrepreneur and politician in French West Africa .

Life

Pierre Vidal's parents Pierre and Joséphine Vidal came from Rivesaltes in southern France. He himself did his military service in the French armed forces from 1926 to 1928 and emigrated to French West Africa in 1932, where he initially lived in the capital Dakar . In 1936 he started his own business in Gao . He was seen there as an important business operator who employed between 1200 and 2000 people. Vidal was elected to the General Council of French Sudan in 1946, of which he was a member until 1952. He owned the construction and transport company Entreprises Vidal in Niamey , the capital of what was then the French overseas territory of Niger . In the elections for the Territorial Assembly in Niger in 1952 , he was elected to the parliament of the overseas territory for the conservative party Union of Independent Nigerians and Sympathizers (UNIS). The following year the Territorial Assembly elected him its first vice-president. Vidal was one of several politicians who left UNIS and merged with the Nigerien Progressive Union (UPN) to form a new party, the Nigerien Action Bloc (BNA). The BNA, in turn, soon merged with the Nigerien Democratic Union (UDN) to form the Sawaba party , chaired by Djibo Bakary .

Vidal missed re-entry into parliament in the elections for the Territorial Assembly in Niger in 1957 . Together with Issoufou Saïdou Djermakoye , he led a rebellion of dissatisfied ex-BNA members in the Sawaba who were looking for rapprochement with the Nigerien Progressive Party (PPN-RDA). Vidal and Djermakoye hoped to force new elections that would allow them to return to the Territorial Assembly. Eventually Bakary offered Vidal a ministerial post. In return, Vidal agreed to bring the breakaway party members back. In addition, the financial support of the wealthy entrepreneur was in the interests of the party. As a result, Pierre Vidal became Minister of Health on May 24, 1957, in the Niger Overseas Territory's first own government. The Frenchman Paul Bordier , the governor of France in Niger, was ex officio head of government and Djibo Bakary was deputy head of government. Besides Bordier and the Minister of Education Robert Fréminé , Vidal was the only member of the government from Metropolitan France . At the constitutional referendum in Niger in 1958 , a rejection of the constitution of the Fifth French Republic would have given Niger immediate independence. The Sawaba was for a no, the PPN-RDA for a yes. Before the referendum in mid-September 1958, Bakary sent two Sawaba politicians, including Vidal, to Paris . They were supposed to convey that a no would not have to mean secession, but could result in contractually regulated cooperation between Niger and France. The delegation was not allowed to see President Charles de Gaulle . Bakary stuck to his no. On September 20, 1958, the two French ministers, Vidal and Fréminé, announced their resignation from the Nigerien government. For the Sawaba campaign, this also meant the loss of Vidal's money and vehicle support. The referendum ended with approval of the constitution. This heralded the decline of the Sawaba.

Honors

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Dossier 19800035/900/5249. Archives nationales , accessed on November 10, 2013 (French).
  2. ↑ Mamoudou Djibo: Les enjeux politiques dans la colonie du Niger (1944 to 1960) . In: Autrepart . No. 27 , 2003, p. 51 ( online version ; PDF file; 507 kB [accessed on November 10, 2013]).
  3. ↑ Edmond Séré de Rivières: Histoire du Niger . Berger-Levrault, Paris 1965, p. 271 .
  4. ↑ a b Klaas van Walraven: The Learning for Relief. A History of the Sawaba Movement in Niger . Brill, Leiden 2013, ISBN 978-90-04-24574-7 , pp. 99-100 .
  5. ↑ Governments du Conseil nigérien. Presidential Office of the Republic of Niger, archived from the original on September 27, 2007 ; Retrieved November 10, 2013 (French).
  6. ^ Klaas van Walraven: The Yearning for Relief. A History of the Sawaba Movement in Niger . Brill, Leiden 2013, ISBN 978-90-04-24574-7 , pp. 210 .
personal data
SURNAME Vidal, Pierre
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Vidal, Pierre François (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French entrepreneur and politician
DATE OF BIRTH July 27, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Mérida (Mexico)
DATE OF DEATH 2nd July 1967
Place of death Toulouse