Maurice Nawalagmba Yaméogo (31 December 1921 – 15 September 1993) was the first President of the Republic of Upper Volta, now called Burkina Faso. He proclaimed the independence of the country on 5 August 1960, and also tried (but failed) to create a union between Ivory Coast and Upper Volta. On 3 January 1966, he left the presidency due to a nationwide strike.
Early life
thumb|right|Map of Upper Volta
According to his official biography, Maurice Yaméogo was born on 31 December 1921 at Koudougou, a town 98 km west of Ouagadougou, along with his twin sister Wamanegdo. He was the son of Mossi peasants, whom he described as a "heathen family, completely given to a whole mob of superstitions." (also spelt Nawalagma) This inclination resulted in a great deal of bullying from his family. The priest Van der Shaegue who performed the baptism gave him Maurice as a patron saint. On 5 September 1934, he left his family to pursue his studies. As a result, he met many of the rising stars of Upper Volta, such as Joseph Ki-Zerbo, Joseph Ouédraogo, and Pierre Tapsoba, with whom he formed a close friendship. But his relationships strayed far from the ecclesiastical standard.
Professional career
Despite failing to graduate, Yaméogo's education allowed him to gain a public role as a shipping clerk for the French Colonial Administration. This extremely prestigious post meant success, security and prestige. Yaméogo was offended by this, but eventually, he resigned himself to marrying an educated woman from Koudougou, Félicité Zagré. Together they presented themselves as the "evolved" couple of Koudougou; Félicité was the only African in the town who dressed like a European. as part of the World War II war effort, Yaméogo was sent to Abidjan in lower Côte d'Ivoire, a paradise for "evolved" Africans. Regular parties were held there in which Yaméogo sought to increase his social standing. In Abidjan Yaméogo was shocked by the fact that some Voltaic businessmen were illegally trafficking workers in order to supply huge plantations with workers. In Upper Volta, Maurice also worked as a clerk for the Administrative, Accounting and Finance Services (SAFC) of the French Colonial Administration. For this purpose, he was appointed in towns like Dedougou and Koudougou. Yaméogo was later appointed the head of the CFTC syndicate (French Confederation of Christian Workers) of his corporation, and vice-president of CFTC Upper-Volta.
Early political career
On his return to his native town after the war, he was elected to the first territorial assembly of Côte d'Ivoire as the general councillor for Koudougou on 15 December 1946. Upper Volta had ceased to exist after 1932, being divided up between Côte d'Ivoire, French Sudan and Niger. This did not please the people of Upper Volta, who elected Philippe Zinda Kaboré to the French National Assembly in November 1946 with a mandate to restore Upper Volta. Yaméogo joined Kaboré's entourage in the hope of thereby accelerating his own rise. When Kaboré died on 24 May 1947, Yaméogo positioned himself as his spiritual heir. This assembly contained fifty seats, thirty-four of which were to be held by the general counsellors elected while Upper Volta was partitioned. Yaméogo was part of this group and planned to sit as part of Kaboré's Voltaic Democratic Party (PDV), the local branch of the African Democratic Assembly (RDA). However, the PDV-RDA suffered an electoral set-back. In the partial elections between 30 May and 20 June, it secured only three of the sixteen seats up for election, losing the other thirteen to the Voltaic Union (UV). Then, on 27 June 1948, the PDV-RDA suffered a defection to the UV, led by Henri Guissou. In the discussions, Yaméogo had been left to one side. Outraged, he attempted to make his voice heard within the party, but he was judged too ambitious and his requests were not heeded. Thus he decided to appeal directly to Father Goarnisson, a European who had been chosen by the college of natives for one of the grand counsellor posts. Yaméogo was elected grand counsellor of French West Africa for Upper Volta.
This was a great achievement; Yaméogo was barely twenty-six years old. Portraits of him as Grand Counsellor decorated the houses of his parents and friends. At Dakar, his wife Félicité enjoyed the role of mistress of the house, hosting the governor-general Paul Béchard with pomp, organising receptions for the "evolved" and Yaméogo's colleagues, who included deputy mayor Lamine Gueye, president of the Grand Council. At the legislative elections of 17 June 1951, the PDV-RDA presented a single list with the doctor Ali Barraud, while the UV was caught up in internal dissension.
Joseph Conombo organised the main party list, Union for the Defense of the Interests of Upper Volta, which received 146,861 votes out of 249,940 and thus obtained three of the four seats up for election. The left wing of the UV, led by the outgoing deputy Nazi Boni, also presented a list, The Economic and Social Action of the Interests of Upper Volta, which secured the fourth seat with 66,986 votes. Meanwhile, the two grand counsellors, Bougouraoua Ouédraogo and Maurice Yaméogo, issued an independent list, which did not meet with any success. He participated in the establishment of a club of officials.
In the same year, the two wings of the UV clashed. On one side, deputy Nazi Boni founded the Popular Movement for African Development (MPEA) on 27 October 1954. On the other side, the leaders of the party terminated the UV in order to create the Social Party for the Education of the African Masses (PSEMA) in December 1954. Yaméogo once again tried t set up a separate group centred around himself, but without success. His list at the legislative elections of 2 January 1956, which included his friend Pierre Tapsoba, suffered a defeat. So too did his request to the newly elected mayor of Ouagadougou, Joseph Ouédraogo, for the post of general secretary of the mayor.
Minister of Upper Volta under the Loi Cadre Defferre (1957–1958)
thumb|upright|A market in Upper Volta
On 29 September 1956, PSEMA merged with the PVD-RDA to form the United Democratic Party (PDU). Despite his links with both of these parties, Yaméogo joined a new party in July 1956, the Voltaic Democratic Movement (MDV), founded by Gérard Kango Ouédraogo and the French captain Michel Dorange, in which he took on the role of financial controller. In the territorial elections of 30 March 1957, the MDV list led by Maurice Yaméogo at Koudougou, which included his cousin Denis Yaméogo and the Haitian-Arab Nader Attié scored a surprising victory over the PDU list led by Henri Guissou, winning all six of the seats which were up for election. The PDU held 39 of them, the MDV had 26 and the MPEA of Nazi Boni had 5.
Very quickly, tensions broke out in the PDU. During investigative meetings in September 1957, the former leader of PSEMA, Joseph Conombo, repudiated the affiliation of his party to the RDA under the control of Ouezzin Coulibaly. Conombo left the coalition government with six other deputies in order to re-establish PSEMA. After these events, the UDV-RDA took an absolute majority in the assembly, while an anti-Ouezzin parliamentary group formed in December 1957, consisting of PSEMA, the MPEA and the MDV. Thus, from being a member of government, Yaméogo found himself in the parliamentary opposition. On 17 December, Joseph Conombo submitted a motion to name a new parliamentary group, a motion of no confidence in the government, which passed. Coulibaly refused to resign: the Loi Cadre Defferre explicitly state that in the case of a vote of no confidence, the government "could" resign, not that it "was removed", from office. who brought the MDV deputies from Koudougou with him (Nader Attié, Gabriel Traoré et Denis Yaméogo) With this new majority, the UDV-RDA established a new government on 22 January 1958. Ouezzin Coulibaly was taken to Paris for health reasons on 28 July 1958 and Yaméogo was placed in charge in his absence. On 4 September 1958, Oezzin Coulibaly died and Maurice Yaméogo assumed the role of acting head of government.
President of Upper Volta (1960–1966)
Establishment of personal power
After the people of Upper Volta had approved the constitution of the French Community on 28 September 1958, and therefore reinforced their state's autonomy, the territorial assembly met on 17 October 1958 to designate Ouezzin Coulibaly's successor. On that day, Moro Naba Kougri made an unsuccessful attempt to install a constitutional monarchy. Kougri, who had the support of Colonel Chevreau, the commander of the French Army in Upper Volta, gathered around 3,000 of his supporters around the assembly and attempted to influence the choice of the new president of the council. Yaméogo's quick response to this demonstration certainly played in his favour during the rescheduled vote of the assembly on 20 October, at which he was elected as president of the council.
Elimination of parliamentary opposition
From April 1958, the opposition in the territorial assembly was united as the Voltaic Regroupment Movement (MRV), the local branch of the African Regroupment Party (PRA), Yaméogo used his new prerogatives to dissolve the assembly on 28 February. A new division of electoral districts had taken place. A majority list ballot was adopted in the two least populated districts and a proportional representation system was adopted in the two most populated districts. This manoeuvre allowed the UDV-RDA to win 64 seats in the legislative elections of 19 April. THE MRV-PRA won only 11 (or 9) No one seemed able to resist the man who was now nicknamed "Monsieur Maurice." Even the most intractable members of the opposition, led by Gérard Kango Ouédraogo finally rejoined the UDV-RDA in Autumn 1959, officially putting an end to the MRV. There was no longer any parliamentary opposition. On 11 December 1959, Yaméogo was elected as the first President of the Republic of Upper Volta without opposition. Extremely distrustful, Yaméogo entrusted power during his overseas absences to the only European on his staff, the administrator of colonies Michel Frejus. This exceptional measure allowed him to compose a legislative arsenal against the opposition. Two days later, Boni tried again, establishing the Republican Liberty Party (PRL). The one-party system was entrenched.
On 12 March, the President of the Republic invited Nazi Boni and Joseph Ouédraogo to a reconciliation meeting. They declined. In response, Yaméogo had them arrested on 2 July and imprisoned at Gorom-Gorom, except for Nazi Boni who once more went into exile. of a new constitution which conferred extended powers on Yaméogo. This constitution had been adopted by the National Assembly on 6 November and approved by the people in a referendum on 27 November. or Henri Guissou, whom he dispatched to Paris. The few political prisoners were released in exchange for a simple declaration of support for the regime. Joseph Ouédraogo requested to rejoin the party in February 1962 at the second UDV-RDA party congress. In the course of this congress, Yaméogo was removed as president of the party and instead appointed secretary general, a role which he held as leader of the movement.
Paranoia, ministerial instability and corruption
Yaméogo became more paranoid after the 13 January 1963 coup in neighboring Togo resulted in the death of President Sylvanus Olympio. Two days after the coup, Joseph Ouédraogo was arrested again along with the union leader Pierre-Claver Tiendrébéogo, party official Ali Soré, and Ambassador to the UN Frédéric Guirm. A Security Court was established, with the accused appearing there without the right to be defended by attorneys. A police inquiry refuted the existence of a plot against Yaméogo. His cousin, interior minister Denis Yaméogo, was arrested for providing him with false statements. After an imprisonment, Denis Yaméogo was reinstated to his duties in 1965. The investigation, according to Guirma, proved that the informants were men of Maxime Ouédraogo, the President of the Republic announced on the radio, without prior consultation, appointment or removal of ministers. Maurice Yaméogo was well known for this. His wife Félicité spared no expense in fur coats and valuable cosmetics while her children bought sports cars. Meanwhile, the president spent more than half a year abroad in sumptuous villas and thermal spas. Beginning in 1964, he became obsessed about the establishment of a single union subservient to a single institutional party. Already, at the Congress of the UDV-RDA in 1962, he invited the legislators of the country to achieve unity within the National Union of workers of Upper Volta (UNST-HV). Since this did not happen, the National Assembly voted on 27 April 1964 to pass a law requiring unions to join the Organization of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU), under penalty of immediate dissolution. In its charter OATUU allowed only one union per country: for Upper Volta this was the UNST-HV. All unions which refused to join the UNST-HV, were labeled "illegal" and suffered state repression.
Maurice Yaméogo became the subject of a cult of personality as evidenced by stamps printed with his image. He was the sole leader of the Republic of Upper Volta and was the only candidate for the presidential election on 3 October 1965. He was "triumphantly" reelected with 99.97% of votes. During the parliamentary elections of 7 November, where the participation rate was 41%, the single list of candidates he imposed won 99.89% of votes.
Foreign affairs
Reversal on the Mali Federation (1958–1959)
thumb|Members of the Conseil de l'Entente
After his election as President of the council on 20 October 1958, Maurice Yaméogo faced the question of whether or not to integrate Upper Volta into the Mali Federation. He showed some hesitation on this issue, although the Voltaic political elite seemed to be generally favourable. By chance, one of the members of the Voltaic delegation to the federal assembly in Dakar for the 14 to 17 January died and Yaméogo replaced him. On his advice, Afraid that they would not be re-elected, the deputies did as they were told. At the end of the meeting, Yaméogo dissolved the Assembly anyway. Completing this volte-face, Yaméogo co-founded an organisation hostile to the Mali Federation, the Conseil de l'Entente, on 29 May 1959, with Félix Houphouët-Boigny of Côte d'Ivoire, Hamani Diori of Niger, and Hubert Maga of Dahomey. Initially the dispute was simply about the division of customs revenues, which Yaméogo considered unfair. Relations between Upper Volta and France were also harmed by this and deteriorated further after Yaméogo expelled the French High Commissioner Paul Masson on false charges of conspiracy.
For the Burkinabe historian Yacouba Zerbo, the causes of Yaméogo's refusal lie in a desire for independence, combined with his lack of confidence in the French troops; on 17 October 1958, the French colonel Chevrau had given his support to Moro Naba Kougri. Subsequently, he demanded the surrender of the French base at Bobo-Dioulasso by 31 December 1961, in favour of the Voltaic Armed Forces (FAV) which had been created on 1 November.
Rapprochement with the Casablanca Group (1961–1962)
thumb|Yaméogo meets [[Golda Meir during his visit to Israel in 1961]]
Maurice Yaméogo was a fervent anti-communist. In December 1960, he co-founded the Brazzaville group with the "moderate" leaders of Francophone Africa, which combined with Anglophone leaders in May 1961 as the Monrovia Group. The Brazzaville and Monrovia Groups were strongly opposed to the "progressivist" Casablanca Group. In March 1961, the Brazzaville Group created the African and Malagasy Union (UAM), a resolutely anti-communist organisation which included a defense pact. In June 1961, Yaméogo was the first African head of state to visit Israel, In the resulting Tamalé accords, Upper Volta and Ghana agreed to a customs union similar to that which had been made with Côte d'Ivoire. Yaméogo enthusiastically called for a shared constitution for the two countries and declared "Long live the future United States of Africa!" The friendship between Yaméogo and Nkrumah was short lived. Yaméogo made up with Félix Houphouët-Boigny and the border controls with Ghana were re-established on 31 July 1962. In July 1963, following a territorial dispute, Yaméogo denounced the "blatant expansionism" of Ghana. Yaméogo appeared live on radio for close to an hour attacking the Guinean leader. He declared:
The Army was in control; the Constitution was suspended, the National Assembly was dissolved, and Lt. Col. Sangoulé Lamizana was placed at the head of a government essentially run by senior army officers. The army remained in power for four years, and on 14 June 1970, the Voltans ratified a new Constitution that established a four-year transition period toward complete civilian rule. Lamizana remained in power throughout the 1970s as president of military or mixed civil-military governments. After a conflict arising over the 1970 Constitution, a new constitution was written and approved in 1977, and Lamizana was reelected through open elections in 1978.
There are two different accounts of Yaméogo's decision to resign. According to Frédéric Guirma who interviewed Sangoulé Lamizana in 1967, Maurice Yaméogo had ordered the chief of the FAV to restore order by firing on the crowd. Lamizana's reported to have replied that before an army would ever fire on its people, the order must be made in writing. Yaméogo then decided to announce a "transfer of competences" in ambiguous terms, intending to resume control once the crisis was over. But as a result of popular pressure, he had to resign himself to signing his full resignation. On the radio broadcast of Alain Foka's Archives d’Afrique, dedicated to Maurice Yaméogo, Sangoulé Lamizana declared that he had never received an order to fire on the protesters, A little later, his supporters decided to enter the capital in order to contest the decision. His friend Félix Houphouët-Boigny was moved by this and put active pressure on the French government to demand Yaméogo's release. On 5 August 1967, his son Hermann Yaméogo attempted to launch a coup d'état to free him, which failed. This included the palace which he had built in his hometown of Koudougou in 1964, officially as a result of the alleged seizure of his villa in the French Riviera and thanks to a French private bank loan.
Final success, imprisonment and rehabilitation (1970–1993)
Maurice Yaméogo continued to participate in the political life of his country using his son Hermann Yaméogo as an intermediary. In 1977 he created the National Union for the Defense of Democracy (UNDD), based on nostalgia for the first republic. In September 1993, Yaméogo became very sick and was taken to Paris to receive treatment.