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55-633: As the name indicates, the PPN confederated in 1946 with a grouping of regional pro-independence parties within French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa to form the Rassemblement Démocratique Africain ( African Democratic Rally —RDA ). Under the leadership of Hamani Diori , the PPN paired appeals to traditional society within the Colony of Niger while its representatives worked with

110-684: A Grand Council of French West Africa was created in Dakar. Two representatives from each colony, usually the Lieutenant Governor and a representative of the French population there, were seated. This council had only consultative powers over the office of the Governor General. The functioning of such bodies rested upon the Indigénat legal code of 1885. Despite this state of flux, and with the exception of

165-468: A definitive series depicting colonial soldiers, both in 1945. A series of 1947 featured 19 scenes and people of the various colonies, then during the 1950s there were about 30 various commemoratives . The last issue inscribed "Afrique occidentale française" and "RF" was the Human Rights issue of December 1958. It was followed by a Stamp Day issue on 21 March 1959, which omitted the federation's name and

220-712: A deputy to represent them in the French parliament in 1848–1852, 1871–1876, and 1879–1940. In 1914, the first African, Blaise Diagne , was elected as the deputy for Senegal in the French Parliament. In 1916, Diagne pushed a law through the National Assembly (loi Blaise Diagne) granting full citizenship to all residents of the so-called Four Communes. In return, he promised to help recruit millions of Africans to fight in World War I. Thereafter, all black Africans of Dakar , Gorée , Saint-Louis , and Rufisque could vote to send

275-962: A million slaves in French West Africa fled from their masters to earlier homes. After the Fall of France in June 1940 and the two battles of Dakar against the Free French Forces in July and September 1940, authorities in West Africa declared allegiance to the Vichy regime , as did the colony of French Gabon in AEF. Gabon fell to Free France after the Battle of Gabon in November 1940, but West Africa remained under Vichy control until

330-473: A new generation of French-educated Africans. On 21 October 1945 six Africans were elected, the Four Communes citizens chose Lamine Guèye , Senegal/Mauritania Léopold Sédar Senghor , Ivory Coast/Upper Volta Félix Houphouët-Boigny , Dahomey/Togo Sourou-Migan Apithy , Soudan-Niger Fily Dabo Sissoko , and Guinea Yacine Diallo . They were all re-elected to the 2nd Constituent Assembly on 2 June 1946. In 1946,

385-543: A representative to the French National Assembly. As the French pursued their part in the scramble for Africa in the 1880s and 1890s, they conquered large inland areas, and at first, ruled them as either a part of the Senegal colony or as independent entities. These conquered areas were usually governed by French Army officers, and dubbed "military territories". In the late 1890s, the French government began to rein in

440-554: A series of reforms. Abdoulaye returned to politics when military rule finally ended in 1991 as Niamey chapter leader of his father's former party, the PPN-RDA . He quickly rose to become the party's vice president, and succeeded Professor Dan Dicko Koulodo as elected president of the PPN-RDA following the former's death. Under his leadership, the PPN-RDA remained a marginal party, working in coalitions with larger groupings. In 1995 Abdoulaye

495-485: A small but influential place in the political life of Niger until his death in 2011. Abdoulaye was married with four children. A Muslim , he earned the honorific 'Hadji' after making the pilgrimage to Mecca . He died 25 April 2011 at National Hospital in Niamey, aged 65, following an illness. Abdoulaye was the eldest son of Niger's first President, Hamani Diori , and campaigned from exile on his father's behalf following

550-547: A union of Senegal, French Sudan , French Guinea and Ivory Coast only, the federation was placed on a permanent footing in 1904. A governor-general was based first in Saint-Louis , then (from 1902) in Dakar (both in Senegal, the oldest French settlement). The AOF subsequently expanded to neighbouring French-ruled territories: Dahomey was added in 1904, after having been put under colonial tutelage in 1892; Mauritania in 1920, and when

605-544: Is now part of the Niamey Capital District ). He was also involved in a number of private enterprises, including the charter airline Air Niamey . Abdoulaye opposed the failed attempt by former President Mamadou Tandja to extend his term under a new constitution in 2009, and supported the 18 February 2010 coup to depose Tandja, saying "The government created the environment for the coup to take place". He supported Mahamadou Issoufou in his successful bid to become

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660-682: The Allied landings in North Africa in November 1942. Following World War II, the French government began a process of extending limited political rights in its colonies. In 1945 the French Provisional Government allocated ten seats to French West Africa in the new Constituent Assembly called to write a new French Constitution . Of these five would be elected by citizens (which only in the Four Communes could an African hope to win) and five by African subjects. The elections brought to prominence

715-818: The French Army . World War II, and the passing of the Loi Cadre ( Overseas Reform Act of 1956 ), both radically restructured the administration of the colonies. French Togoland , seized by France from Germany in World War I, was for most of this period not nominally a colony but a Mandate territory . In theory, the Governors-General of the AOF reported directly to the Minister of Colonies in Paris, while individual colonies and territories reported only to Dakar. Originally created in 1895 as

770-642: The French Communist Party in France, which was the only force supporting independence for France's colonial possessions. In 1946 the single pro-Independence party in Niger was the Nigerien Progressive Party (PPN), of which Hamani Diori and Djibo Bakary were the most prominent members, and which numbered only 5000 members. Simultaneously, these colonial territories were allowed limited representation in

825-478: The French Communist Party in the National Assembly. Some elements, such as RDA leader Félix Houphouët-Boigny , were uncomfortable with this connection. Many in the PPN felt the same way, while many other, grouped around Bakary and the tiny Nigerien Trades Union movement, pulled to the left. Earlier splits of the PPN, of conservative Djerma traditional leaders and a small Franco-Nigerien contingent in 1946, were added to 1948 in reaction to Bakary and his circle and to

880-606: The French Fifth Republic of 1958 again changed the structure of the colonies from the French Union to the French Community . Each territory was to become a "Protectorate", with the consultative assembly named a National Assembly. The Governor appointed by the French was renamed the "High Commissioner", and made head of state of each territory. The Assembly would name an African as Head of Government with advisory powers to

935-476: The French National Assembly , with Niger allotted one seat in 1946 and a second in 1948 . PPN Party leader Hamani Diori filled the first, and a French educated Niamey lawyer, Djibo Bakary, filled the second. Bakary, a leftist, helped push the party—already perceived as anti-French—in a populist direction. The PPN was allied to the pan-colony African Democratic Rally (RDA), which itself caucused with

990-1027: The Loi Lamine Guèye granted some limited citizenship rights to natives of the African colonies. The French Empire was renamed the French Union on 27 October 1946, when the new constitution of the Fourth Republic was established. In late 1946 under this new constitution, each territory was for the first time (excepting the Four Communes) able to elect local representatives, albeit on a limited franchise, to newly established General Councils. These elected bodies had only limited consultative powers, although they did approve local budgets. The Loi Cadre of 23 June 1956 brought universal suffrage to elections held after that date in all French African colonies. The first elections under universal suffrage in French West Africa were

1045-657: The Precepteur du marché trade inspectors, etc. Because of administrative practice and geographic isolation, Cercle Commanders had a tremendous amount of power over the lives of the Africans around them. The Cercle Commanders also had tremendous power over the economic and political life of their territories. Legally, all Africans outside the Four Communes of Senegal were "subjects" under the Indigénat legal code of 1885. This code gave summary powers to French administrators, including

1100-755: The 1974 coup which removed Diori from power and resulted in the death of his mother. While in exile Abdoulaye had two children out of wedlock with his second wife in Nigeria. In the 1980s—following his father's 1980 release from prison and house arrest in 1984—Abdoulaye became political leader of a short-lived armed rebel group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Niger (Front populaire de libération du Niger, FPLN). The FPLN, made up mostly of Nigerien Tuareg fighters and based in Libya , carried out an armed assault on an armory in

1155-638: The AOF in conjunction with officers of the French Colonial Forces . Each colony of French West Africa was administered by a Lieutenant Governor, responsible to the Governor General in Dakar. Only the Governor-General received orders from Paris, via the Minister of Colonies . The Minister, with the approval of the French Chamber of Deputies ( French National Assembly after 1946), chose Lieutenants Governor and Governors-General. Beginning in 1946,

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1210-635: The French Community to unilaterally change their own constitutions. Senegal and former French Sudan became the Mali Federation (1960–61), while Ivory Coast, Niger, Upper Volta and Dahomey subsequently formed the short-lived Sahel-Benin Union , later the Conseil de l'Entente . The administrative structure of French colonial possessions in West Africa, while more homogeneous than neighboring British possessions ,

1265-406: The French authorities started to enforce anti-slavery laws against indigenous slave owners in territories under French control due to pressure from French abolitionists: the laws against slave trade were enforced, and fugitive slaves were not returned to their owners. In 1905, the French officially abolished slavery in most of French West Africa. From 1906 to 1911, as emancipation progressed, over

1320-569: The French found in the coastal areas of the Rivières du Sud colony in the 1880s, modern Guinea. The Canton, then, was much smaller than, and qualitatively different from, the pre-colonial states of the Sahel (such as the Toucouleur Empire ) which the French would later conquer. They were styled "Chefs de canton", "Chefs du Village", or occasionally taking the title of precolonial states assimilated by

1375-423: The French structure whole. This last was uncommon, but became more prevalent in the later colonial territories conquered, as fewer administrators were available to rule over larger, less populated territories with strong pre-colonial state structures. Where these larger polities resisted the French, they were often broken into small chiefdoms. Larger polities which presented a segment of the elite who would work with

1430-499: The French were maintained under new leadership. The Sultan of Agadez , the Sultan of Damagaram , and the Djermakoy of Dosso are examples of these large scale "Chefs de canton". But even these rulers were replaced by individuals handpicked by French authorities. Regardless of source, chiefs were given the right to arm small numbers of guards and made responsible for the collection of taxes,

1485-581: The Head of State. Legally, the federation ceased to exist after the 1958 French constitutional referendum to approve this French Community. All the colonies except Guinea voted to remain in the new structure. Guineans voted overwhelmingly for independence. In 1960, a further revision of the French constitution, compelled by the failure of the French Indochina War and the tensions in Algeria , allowed members of

1540-682: The Military structure (outside Military areas, e.g.: modern Niger and Mauritania prior to the Second World War). Below the "Cercle Commander" were a series of African "Chefs de canton" and "Chefs du Village": "chiefs" appointed by the French and subject to removal by the Europeans. As well, the "Cercle Commander" made use of a large number of servants, employees, and African officers such as the "Gardes-de-cercle" police, any military units seconded to them by government authorities, and sub-administrators such as

1595-579: The PCF in 1951 and by 1958 was close to the colonial authorities in Niamey. This faction retained both the PPN name and the connection with the RDA, while Djibo Bakary now broke from the RDA to retain ties with the French Communist Party. Bakary's new party, Sawaba , prospered in the 1957 Territorial Assembly elections to the detriment of the PPN. In the 1958 constitutional referendum and Assembly elections ,

1650-462: The PPN supported continued association with France under the French Community , while its primary rival, called for immediate independence from France. The PPN swept the Assembly elections, with Diori becoming its chair (essentially, Prime Minister to the colonial governor's presidential role). Sawaba was suppressed and outlawed prior to independence in 1960 with the help of French officials. The PPN-RDA

1705-535: The Senegalese Communes, the administrative structure of French rule at the lower levels remained constant, based upon the Cercle system. This was the smallest unit of French political administration in French colonial Africa that was headed by a European officer. They might range in size, but French Sudan (modern Mali) consisted of less than a dozen Cercles for most of its existence. Thus, a Cercle Commander might be

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1760-404: The absolute authority over hundreds of thousands of Africans. A Cercle consisted of several cantons , each of which in turn consisted of several villages, and was almost universal in France's African colonies from 1895 to 1946. The "Cercle Commander" (" commandant de cercle ") was subject to the authority of a District Commander, and the government of the colony above him, but was independent of

1815-526: The continued association with the RDA. Harou Kouka and Georges Condat split to form a group (" Parti Independent du Niger-Est PINE") that quickly joined with previous dissidents to create the Union of Nigerien Independents and Sympathisers (UNIS). This relatively conservative coalition benefited from French support, and gained control of the consultative institutions of the Niger colony from 1948-1952. Diori, much like RDA chair Félix Houphouët-Boigny , broke from

1870-880: The depths of the Sahara , the Federation contained more than ten million inhabitants at its creation, and some 25 million at its dissolution. The AOF included all of the Senegal River valley, most of the Niger River valley, and most of the West African Sahel region. It also included tropical forests in Ivory Coast and Guinea, the Fouta Djallon highlands, and the Aïr Mountains of modern Niger. The French colonial territories in

1925-474: The federation issued their own postage stamps until 1943. In many cases the stamps were inscribed with the name of the federation " Afrique Occidentale Française " as well as the colony's own name. In 1943 and 1944, stamps of Senegal and Mauritania were overprinted with new values and valid throughout French West Africa. The first issues printed specifically for the federation were the Eboue common design type and

1980-644: The first President of the Nigerien 7th Republic in 2011. He was appointed government Minister as Special Councilor to the President on 7 April 2011, and attended the 6 April inauguration of the President. Abdoulaye Hamani Diori died in Niamey at age 65 on 25 April 2011 following an illness. He was survived by his wife and four children Abdoulaye Hamani Diori was interred on 26 April 2011 next to his father in Soudouré following

2035-467: The leadership was forbidden, Assembly sessions were largely ceremonial, and practical governance was carried out by the Political Bureau of the PPN, headed by Diori, Boubou Hama , and a small cadre of supporters. The PPN was reviled by many as tied to traditional elites (especially from the west of the country), too close a partner with French interests, and financially corrupt. The famine which struck

2090-442: The municipal elections of late 1956. On 31 March 1957, under universal suffrage, territorial Assembly elections were held in each of the eight colonies (Togo as a UN trust Territory was at this stage on a different trajectory). The leaders of the winning parties were appointed to the newly instituted positions of Vice-Presidents of the respective Governing Councils — French Colonial Governors remained as Presidents. The Constitution of

2145-448: The northern town of Tchintabaradene in March 1985, but was repulsed by government forces. Following the attack, Abdoulaye's father was re-imprisoned to be released only upon the death of Niger's military leader in 1987. Following the death of Seyni Kountche , Abdoulaye returned from Libya, joining his father and their former political rival Sawaba leader Djibo Bakary in meeting with new President Ali Saibou , announcing an amnesty and

2200-468: The recruitment of forced labour, and the enforcement of "customary law". In general, Canton Chiefs served at the behest of their Cercle Commander and were left to see to their own affairs as long as calm was maintained and Administrative orders were carried out. With an area of some 4,689,000 square kilometres (1,810,000 sq mi) (mostly the desert or semi-desert interior of Mauritania , Sudan and Niger ) extending from Africa's westernmost point to

2255-449: The region following the 1969-73 drought, scandals surrounding lack of food aid, along with personal discontent amongst the military, led to the April 1974 coup which ended the PPN's role in Nigerien politics. The PPN-RDA was resurrected in 1991, following the return to democracy, under the leadership of Diori's eldest son Abdoulaye Hamani Diori . It won two seats in the 1993 parliamentary elections , and nominated Oumarou Garba Issoufou for

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2310-414: The restructuring of the people's lives he governed. The other official office particular to the local administration of French West Africa was the "Chief". These were Africans appointed by French officials for their loyalty to France, regardless of their rights to local power. These chiefs were assigned created territories based on the scale of a French Canton, as well as on the small scale tribal structures

2365-430: The rights to arrest, try, punish and imprison subjects. It also gave French local authorities the right to requisition forced labour, usually limited to able-bodied men for a few weeks a year, but in practice having few restrictions. These "tools" included the Civilizing mission ideology common in the period following the First World War. Every new Cercle Commander might well bring with him vast projects for development and

2420-670: The subsequent presidential elections ; he finished sixth out of eight candidates with 2% of the vote. The party was reduced to one seat in the 1995 parliamentary elections , and lost parliamentary representation after it boycotted the 1996 elections . When it ran in the 1999 elections it failed to win a seat. It contested the 2004 general elections in an alliance with the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS) and Nigerien Self-Management Party (PNA). The joint list won four seats, and Abdoulaye Hamani Diori led its parliamentary delegation from 2004 until 2009. The party opposed Mamadou Tandja 's constitutional referendum of 2009 and

2475-444: The territorial expansion of its "officers on the ground", and transferred all the territories west of Gabon to a single governor based in Senegal, reporting directly to the Minister of Overseas Affairs. The first governor-general of Senegal was named in 1895, and in 1904, the territories he oversaw were formally named French West Africa (AOF). Gabon would later become the seat of its own federation French Equatorial Africa (AEF), which

2530-432: The territory of Upper Volta was divided from French Sudan by colonial decree in 1921, it automatically also entered the AOF. Between 1934 and 1937, the League of Nations Mandate territory of French Togoland was subsumed into Dahomey, and between its seizure from Germany in World War I and independence it was administered through the AOF. In 1904, both Mauritania and Niger were classed "Military Territories": ruled by

2585-410: The tiny Senegal Colony in 1848 when, at the abolition of slavery by the French Second Republic , all residents of France were granted equal political rights. Anyone able to prove they were born in these towns was legally French. They could vote in parliamentary elections, which had been previously dominated by white and mixed-race residents of Senegal. The Four Communes of Senegal were entitled to elect

2640-457: Was a federation of eight French colonial territories in West Africa : Mauritania , Senegal , French Sudan (now Mali ), French Guinea (now Guinea ), Ivory Coast , Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso ), Dahomey (now Benin ) and Niger . The federation existed from 1895 until 1958. Its capital was Saint-Louis in Senegal until 1902, and then Dakar until the federation's collapse in 1960. With an area of 4,689,000 km , French West Africa

2695-558: Was a member of the opposition FDD ( Front for Defense of Democracy ) and CFDR ( Coordination of Forces for Democracy and the Republic ) party coalitions during the 2009–10 Nigerien constitutional crisis . It endorsed Mahamadou Issoufou of the PNDS for the presidency in the 2011 general elections , but won no seats in the new National Assembly. It also failed to win a seat in the 2016 general elections . ( joint list with PNDS – PNA ) French West Africa French West Africa ( French : Afrique-Occidentale française , AOF )

2750-445: Was eight times the size of Metropolitan France . French Equatorial Africa had an additional area of 2,500,000 km . Until after World War II, almost none of the Africans living in the colonies of France were citizens of France. Rather, they were "French subjects," lacking rights before the law, property ownership rights, rights to travel, dissent, or vote. The exception was the Four Communes of Senegal: those areas had been towns of

2805-610: Was elected to the National Assembly of Niger , working in coalition with then Prime Minister of Niger Mahamadou Issoufou . Diori was chosen as Vice President of the Assembly at that time. In 2004 he returned as minister to the National Assembly, and was elected President of the Defense Commission of the National Assembly for the 2004-2008 session. Like his father, Abdoulaye Hamani Diori stood for elections representing constituencies in Dogondoutchi Department , Dosso Region , centered around his mother's native town of Togone and his father's native town of Soudouré , Dosso Region (which

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2860-479: Was inscribed "CF" along with "Dakar-Abidjan" for use in Ivory Coast and Senegal. Abdoulaye Hamani Diori Abdoulaye Hamani Diori (29 December 1945 – 25 April 2011) was a Nigerien political leader and businessman. The son of Niger's first President, he waged a political and abortive military struggle against the Military regime that overthrew his father. With the return of democracy to Niger, Abdoulaye became head of his father's political party, and maintained

2915-438: Was marked by variety and flux. Throughout the history of the AOF, individual colonies and military territories were reorganized numerous times, as was the Government General in Dakar. French Upper Volta was formed and parceled out to neighboring colonies twice. The future states of Mauritania and Niger remained out of the federation until the 1920s and 1940s respectively. They were Military Territories , directly controlled by

2970-430: Was the country's sole legal party from 1960 until 1974, when the regime of President Hamani Diori was overthrown in a military coup . As president of the PPN, Diori was the only candidate for president of the republic, and was re-elected unopposed for five-year terms in 1965 and 1970. In those same years, a single list of PPN-RDA candidates was returned to the National Assembly. During this period public criticism of

3025-460: Was to border its western neighbor on the modern boundary between Niger and Chad . France abolished slavery in French West Africa. This process was gradual. Slavery was formally illegal in all French land including their colonies from 1848, but this law only applied to French citizens in territories officially under French law, which meant that indigenous subjects without French citizenship were not obliged to obey. In French West Africa in 1903-1905,

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