African Socialist Movement (french: Mouvement Socialiste Africain, MSA) was a
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière
The French Section of the Workers' International (french: Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière, SFIO) was a political party in France that was founded in 1905 and succeeded in 1969 by the modern-day Socialist Party. The SFIO was foun ...
(SFIO) federations of
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
French Congo
The French Congo (french: Congo français) or Middle Congo (french: Moyen-Congo) was a French colony which at one time comprised the present-day area of the Republic of the Congo and parts of Gabon, and the Central African Republic. In 1910, ...
Gabon
Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the nort ...
Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mal ...
Niger
)
, official_languages =
, languages_type = National languagesOubangui-Chari (now the
Central African Republic
The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...
; the meeting was held in Conakry from 11 January to 13 January 1957. At that meeting it was decided that the African federations would break with its French parent organisation and form the MSA.Zuccarelli, François. ''La vie politique sénégalaise (1940-1988)''. Paris: CHEAM, 1988.
The first meeting of the leading committee of MSA met from 9 to 10 February in
Dakar
Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from :wo:daqaar, daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar ...
the same year. Two SFIO delegates attended the session. MSA opted for a federalist solution for French West Africa. On 26 March 1958, the MSA signed a declaration in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
At its founding, Lamine Guèye became the president of MSA, Barry III the general secretary and
Djibo Bakary
Djibo Bakary (1922 – 16 April 1998) was a socialist politician and important figure in the independence movement of Niger. Bakary was the first Nigerien to hold local executive power since the beginning of French colonialism. From 20 May 195 ...