Union of Independent Nigerians and Sympathizers

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Union of Independent Nigerians and Sympathizers
UNIS
Party leader Georges Condat (1948–1953)
Ikhia Zodi (1953–1957)
Emergence May 1948
founding June 4, 1948
Place of foundation Maradi , Niger
resolution February 24, 1957
Headquarters Niger
Alignment conservatism

The Union of Independent Nigerians and Sympathizers ( French : Union des Nigériens Indépendants et Sympathisants , abbreviation: UNIS ) was a political party in the French overseas territory of Niger .

history

The overseas territory of Niger had been represented by a member of the French National Assembly since 1946 . This seat was held by Hamani Diori from the Nigerien Progress Party (PPN-RDA). In 1948 Niger was awarded a second MP. The PPN-RDA was allied with the French Communist Party and was therefore not considered reliable in the context of the Cold War to protect France's interests. Jean Toby , who was the Vichy regime used governor of France in Niger, so initiated the establishment of a new party that would win the second seat in the National Assembly instead of the PPN-RDA. The founding congress of the Union of Independent Nigerians and Sympathizers took place in Maradi in May 1948 . The "independent Nigerians" were supporters of the PPN-RDA who believed that East Niger was underrepresented in the party and that the PPN-RDA was hostile to the chefferie traditionnelle , the traditional form of rule involved in the administration. The "sympathizers" were citizens from metropolitan France and from other areas of French West Africa . The first party leader of the UNIS was Georges Condat . Another founding member was Issoufou Saïdou Djermakoye , who came from the traditional ruling house of Dosso and who , as President of the Central Committee, had co-founded the PPN-RDA in 1946. The party was officially recognized on June 4, 1948.

The election of Niger's second deputy in the French National Assembly on June 27, 1948 was won by Georges Condat, who prevailed against Djibo Bakary from the PPN-RDA. In 1949 Ikhia Zodi switched from PPN-RDA to UNIS. When both Niger’s seats in the French National Assembly were re-elected on June 17, 1951, these went to Condat and Ikhia from UNIS. Mohamadou Djibrilla Maïga , a former French senator and PPN-RDA member, joined UNIS in 1952. In the elections for the Territorial Assembly on March 30, 1952 , the party won all fifty seats in the Nigerien parliament. On May 18, 1952, she sent Yacouba Sido to the House of Lords in Paris as Niger's representative .

The pro-French UNIS was the dominant political force in Niger from 1948 to 1952. After that, it went through a series of internal crises that ultimately led to its resolution. Georges Condat did not agree that UNIS refused to work with the PPN-RDA, and therefore split off from UNIS in 1953 with the new Nigerian Progressive Union (UDN) party . Ikhia Zodi, the new UNIS chairman, criticized the food security measures in Niger in 1954 in the National Assembly, whereupon the French administration put pressure on UNIS to distance itself from these statements. There was bearing formations that it led to a series of UNIS politicians - including Issoufou Saïdou Djermakoye and Adamou Mayaki - the party left in 1955 to become a new party, which is by Condats UDN Nigerien action block (BNA) to unite. In the elections for Niger's two seats in the National Assembly on January 2, 1956, UNIS came away empty-handed. The remaining rump of the party around Ikhia Zodi dissolved itself on February 24, 1957, in order to reconstitute itself under the name Forces Démocratiques Nigériennes as the Nigerien section of the interterritorial Convention Africaine , which however no longer played a significant role in Nigerien politics.

literature

  • Finn Fuglestad : UNIS and BNA: The Rôle of "Traditionalist" Parties in Niger, 1948–1960 . In: Journal of African History . tape 16 , no. 1 , 1975, p. 113-135 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Edmond Séré de Rivières: Histoire du Niger . Berger-Levrault, Paris 1965, p. 269.
  2. ↑ a b c d Mamoudou Djibo: Les transformations politiques au Niger à la veille de l'indépendance . L'Harmattan, Paris 2001, ISBN 2-7384-9505-2 , p. 45.
  3. ^ André Salifou: Biographie politique de Hamani Diori. Premier President de la République du Niger . Karthala, Paris 2010, ISBN 978-2-8111-0202-9 , pp. 299-300.
  4. ↑ Ikhia Aboubekr ZODI . Assemblée nationale website, accessed 30 January 2013.
  5. ↑ a b c Edmond Séré de Rivières: Histoire du Niger . Berger-Levrault, Paris 1965, p. 271.
  6. ↑ SIDO Yacouba. Ancien sénateur du Niger. In: French Senate website . Retrieved January 7, 2015 (French).
  7. ↑ Mamoudou Djibo: Les enjeux politiques dans la colonie du Niger (1944 to 1960) . In: Autrepart , No. 27/2003 ( online version (PDF file; 495 kB)), pp. 46–47.