Maurice Yaméogo

Maurice Nawalagmba Yaméogo (31 December 1921 – 15 September 1993) was the first President of the Republic of Upper Volta, now called Burkina Faso, from 1959 until 1966. "Monsieur Maurice" embodied the Voltaic state at the moment of independence. However, his political ascension did not occur without difficulties. As a member of the colonial administration from 1946, Maurice Yaméogo found a place for himself in the busy political landscape of Upper Volta thanks to his skill as a speaker. In May 1957, during the formation of the first Upper Voltaic government instituted under the Loi Cadre Defferre, he joined the coalition government formed by Ouezzin Coulibaly, as minister for agriculture and a member of the Voltaic Democratic Movement (MDV). In January 1958, threatened by a vote of censure, Coulibaly enticed Maurice Yaméogo and his allies in the assembly to join the Voltaic Democratic Union-African Democratic Assembly (UDV-RDA) in exchange for promises of promotion within the government. Maurice Yaméogo rose to be his second in command, with the portfolio of the Interior, a position which allowed him to assume the role of interim head of government, following Coulibay's death in September 1958. His rather shaky political ascendancy was reinforced by circumstances. After the proclamation of the Republic of Upper Volta on 11 December 1958, he made a surprising volte-face with respect to the Mali Federation advocated by Léopold Sédar Senghor. The Voltaic assembly supported Upper Volta's membership in the Federation, but Yaméogo opted for political sovereignty and limited economic integration with the Conseil de l'Entente. Then, by means of controversial manoeuvres, Yaméogo eliminated all parliamentary opposition. The UDV-RDA was purged of his enemies and he imposed a one party system. Upper Volta found itself under a dictatorship even before its independence on 5 August 1960. In foreign policy, Yaméogo envied and admired the international success of his colleague Félix Houphouët-Boigny, the President of Côte d'Ivoire, who defied the anti-communists by establishing an ephemeral customs union (1961–1962) with the "progressivist" Ghana of Kwame Nkrumah.