Georges Darlan

Georges Darlan (1920–1965) was a Central African politician. He was the president of the Representative Council of Ubangi-Shari from 1949 to 1952, the institutional predecessor of the Central African National Assembly.

Biography

Early life (1920–1950)

Georges Darlan was born in 1920 in Kouango (Ouaka) in Ubangi-Shari. Officially, his date of birth was January 5, although it is impossible to authenticate that date because, although born of a European father and a Ubangi mother,Jacques Serre, ''Biographie de David Dacko: premier président de la République centrafricaine, 1930-2003'', Paris, Éditions L'Harmattan, 2007, Georges Darlan was never entered in the civil register of Kouango, which was exclusively used for European citizens. Indeed, like many of mixed race in the colonies, it seems that Darlan's father refused to recognize him or his older brother Antoine Darlan and abandoned them and their African mother.Abel Goumba, ''Les Mémoires et les Réflexions politiques du Resistant anti-colonial, démocrate et militant panafricaniste'', v. 1, Paris, Ccinia, 2007,

Thanks to his European ancestry, Georges Darlan was enrolled in school, which was a privilege because during the interwar period the enrollment rate in Ubangi-Shari was 1.5%. His primary education allow him to join the new institution for indigenous people in French Equatorial Africa, the École Edouard Renard in Brazzaville from 1935. He graduated in 1939 with a teacher's diploma. His assignment in Libreville, Gabon, led him to enlist in the Free French Forces in 1941, from which he was discharged in 1945 with the rank of Staff Sergeant. He returned the following year to Ubangi for a commercial career.

Darlan became very interested in the emerging politics of the colony. After supporting the bishop Barthélemy Boganda in the November 1946 nomination for deputy to the National Assembly of France, he participated in the elections for the newly created Representative Council, on the Economic and Social Action lists for the Native College. His list won all five seats which were up for election. Darlan was elected councilor for Bangui.Juan Fandos-Rius, « Conseil Représentatif de l'Oubangui-Chari » In ''Parliament of the Central African Republic'', 14 novembre 2007
On 19 October 1947 he was elected general counselor of French Equatorial Africa by his peers, along with his older brother Antoine Darlan.Juan Fandos-Rius, « Oubangui-Chari representatives to France and Brazzaville (1946-1961) » In ''Colonial Rulers of Oubangui-Chari'', 2 juillet 2008
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In August 1947, he was appointed president of the first local political party, the Ubangi Union (UO) founded by Barthélémy Boganda.Jean-Dominique Pénel, ''Barthélémy Boganda. Écrits et Discours. 1946-1951 : la lutte décisive'', Paris, L’Harmattan, 1995, The UO was a success; its size increased continuously. Darlan used this organization to introduce cooperatives of cotton producers (COTONCOOP) and of consumers (SOCOOMA) in 1948.Jean-Dominique Pénel, ''op. cit.'', Soon a patronage system formed around DarlanJean-Dominique Pénel, ''op. cit.'', and he became the strong man of Ubangi-Shari. His influence over local officials was encouraged by the colonial administration. In 1948, while the majority of indigenous advisers were moving toward the African Democratic Rally (RDA) under the influence of his very liberal brother Antoine Darlan,Jean-Dominique Pénel, ''op. cit.'', Georges Darlan, who was more liberal,Abel Goumba, ''Les Mémoires et les Réflexions politiques du Resistant anti-colonial, démocrate et militant panafricaniste'', v. 1, Paris, Ccinia, 2007, exerted all his influence to prevent this movement to the left. Only candidates elected in Bangui joined the RDA. The candidates elected from rural areas chose Georges Darlan to be the head of the Representative Council in 1949.Jean-Dominique Pénel, ''op. cit.'',

Ambitions and setbacks, the woes of COTONCOOP (1950–1951)

Georges Darlan had ambitions of being elected as the deputy to the French National Assembly, in place of Barthélemy Boganda, with whom his relations had deteriorated. The break occurred in September 1948, when the Representative Council refused to grant a charter to Boganda's cooperative, SOCOULOLÉ, although it had granted one to COTONCOOP a few months earlier. Feeling a sense of betrayal, Boganda resigned from the UO one month later.Jean-Dominique Pénel, ''op. cit.'', The UO survived until 1950. In that year, the president of the Representative Council decided to refocus on COTONCOOP, a more flexible body with 24,000 members, whose executives were politically close to him.Jean-Dominique Pénel, ''op. cit.'',

The COTONCOOP did not last very long. In July 1950, the Representative Council was surprised to discover that the collection of contributions is made almost mandatory in some areas "in the government's name".John A. Ballard, The Development of Political Parties in French Equatorial Africa, Fletcher School, 1964, Strong criticism was levelled at its financial management. Of the thirty-two million CFA francs of subsidies granted by the Representative Council, twenty million were squandered; nine million in the purchase of real estate in Bangui, the rest in various construction projects, purchasing of plants, and management fees.International Co-operative Alliance, ''Year book of agricultural co-operation'', Londres, Horace Plunkett Foundation, 1954, In 1951, during the election campaign, the government took control of the company on account of the number of complaints. The reports sent to the Head of Planning and the Governor General of French Equatorial Africa went without appeal; all the company business operations had been performed in vain.

Despite these setbacks, Georges Darlan was still considered by the administration to be the main opponent of Boganda in the legislative election of 17 June.Jean-Dominique Pénel, ''op. cit.'', But his controversial actions in his co-operatives and the fact that he had presided over a tax increase while president of the Representative Council were easily exploited by Boganda.Jean-Dominique Pénel, ''op. cit.'', Darlan was discredited by Boganda's campaign tactics.Jean-Dominique Pénel, ''op. cit.'', On 17 June, he came in third place with 8,288 votes, a mere 12.6% of the electorate.Jean-Dominique Pénel, ''op. cit.'',

Political failures and move to Congo (1952–1965)

In 1952, Georges Darlan decided not to stand in the territorial elections. His withdrawal from political life lasted until 1956. In that year, he founded a party, Ubangi Emancipation, and ran unsuccessfully in the Bangui municipal election against Boganda.Jacques Serre, ''op. cit.'',

In 1957, Georges Darlan reversed his attitude to the RDA and participated in the reformation of the Ubangi section. Boganda then accused him being a "messenger of Moscow", a false attack since, from 1950 onwards, the RDA had a liberal orientation. In 1959, the founding leader of the RDA, Félix Houphouët-Boigny of Cote d'Ivoire, chose Darlan to lead the RDA campaign in the parliamentary elections of April in the Central African RepublicJean-Pierre Bat, ''La décolonisation de l'AEF selon Foccart : entre stratégies politiques et tactiques sécuritaires (1956-1969)'', t.1, Paris, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne, 2011, (the name of Ubangi-Shari after December 1958), instead of his brother Antoine Darlan.Jean-Pierre Bat, ''op. cit.'', t.1, The RDA obtained 2.4% of the votes and no seats in these elections. Darlan fell out of favor with Houphouët-Boigny, who turned his attention to the leader of Congo-Brazzaville, Fulbert Youlou. Georges Darlan was ousted in favor of Kobozo, an unknown.

Georges Darlan left the Central African political scene in 1960 and moved to the former Belgian Congo. In 1961, he became the economic adviser to Moise Tshombe in his secessionist government of Katanga. The adventure seemed to have come to an end in 1963 when he settled as a merchant in Brazzaville. But beginning in 1965, accused of political activity on behalf of Tshombe, the Congo-Brazzaville authorities expelled him to Bangui, where the President of the Central African Republic David Dacko imprisoned Darlan on arrival, probably to discourage him from resuming political activity. He was set free after a few weeks.

On 8 June 1965, George Darlan died, while attempting to set up a business in Bangui. Abel Goumba raises the possibility of an assassination: Darlan is said to have drunken a "glass" in the company of a young woman, become ill suddenly, and been hurriedly returned home, where he died. For Goumba, the circumstances are similar to the murder by poisoning of the Cameroonian opposition leader Félix-Roland Moumié in Geneva in 1960.Abel Goumba, ''op. cit.'',

Darlan's daughter Danièle is a law professor who has been Président of the Constitutional Court of the Central African Republic since 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Darlan, Georges
1920 births
1965 deaths
People of French Equatorial Africa
Central African Republic politicians
Central African Republic expatriates in the Republic of the Congo
Central African Republic expatriates in Gabon
French military personnel of World War II
Central African Republic military personnel
Central African Republic expatriates in the Democratic Republic of the Congo