Nazi Boni (December 31, 1909, in Bwan,

Upper Senegal and Niger Upper Senegal and Niger () was a colony in French West Africa, created on 21 October 1904 from colonial Senegambia and Niger by the decree "For the Reorganisation of the general government of French West Africa". At its creation, the "Colony of ...

– May 16, 1969, in Kokologho, Upper Volta) was a politician from Upper Volta (now

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana t ...

). In

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

Boni was elected to the

French National Assembly The National Assembly (french: link=no, italics=set, Assemblée nationale; ) is the lower house of the bicameral French Parliament under the Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are kn ...

on behalf of the

Voltaic Union Voltaic Union (french: Union Voltaïque) was a political party in Upper Volta. It was formed soon after World War II on the initiative of the French governor Albert Mouragues, and Mouragues was accused of interference in the June 1948 local ele ...

(UV), and was re-elected in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

running on the Economic and Social Action in the Interests of Upper Volta list, although he remained a UV member. In 1955 Boni founded the

African Popular Movement The African Popular Movement (in French: ''Mouvement Populaire Africain'') was a political party in Upper Volta, led by Nazi Boni. MPA was founded in 1955 following a split in the Voltaic Union. In the 1957 Territorial Assembly elections MPA w ...

(MPA) after a split from the UV.Englebert, Pierre. ''La Revolution Burkinabè''. Paris: L'Harmattan, 1986. In January 1957, Boni's MPA took part in the founding of the

African Convention African Convention (french: Convention Africaine, CA) was a political party in French West Africa, originally formed at a meeting in Dakar on 11 January 1957. The CA consisted of the Senegalese Popular Bloc (BPS) of Léopold Sédar Senghor, the ...

, a pan-African party that later merged into the

African Regroupment Party The African Regroupment Party (french: Parti du Regroupement Africain, PRA) was a political party in the French African colonies. Formation The PRA came into being at a meeting in Paris on March 26, 1958, months before the French Community would ...

. From December 1957 to February 1958 Boni served as President of the Territorial Assembly.Official website of the National Assembly of Burkina Faso In 1959 he founded a new party, the Republican Party for Liberty, in opposition to the attempts to make Upper Volta a

one-party state A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other partie ...

under the Voltaic Democratic Union. Boni was forced into exile in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...

. In 1962, Boni wrote a novel, ''Le Crépuscule des temps anciens'' (''The Twilight of the Bygone Days''), which explored the precolonial existence of the

Bwa people The Bwa is an African society that is native to Burkina Faso. This society has an approximate population of over 300,000 persons. The Bwa people live in a number of individualized communities. They have no central government, and rely on their c ...

and the

Volta-Bani War The Volta-Bani War was an anti-colonial rebellion which took place in French West Africa (specifically, the areas of modern Burkina Faso and Mali) between 1915 and 1917. It was a war between an indigenous African force drawn from a heterogeneous ...

References

page on the French National Assembly website
1909 births 1969 deaths People from Boucle du Mouhoun Region People of French West Africa Burkinabé politicians Deputies of the 1st National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic Deputies of the 2nd National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic Deputies of the 3rd National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic Deputies of the 1st National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Burkinabé novelists Burkinabé expatriates in Senegal 20th-century novelists 20th-century Burkinabé people {{BurkinaFaso-politician-stub