The Movement for the Social Evolution of Black Africa (; MESAN) was a political party in the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...

. In its original form, it was a nationalist party that sought to affirm black humanity and advocated for the independence of

Ubangi-Shari Ubangi-Shari () was a French colonial empire, French colony in central Africa, a part of French Equatorial Africa. It was named after the Ubangi River, Ubangi and Chari River, Chari rivers of the Central African Republic, rivers along which it w ...

, then a

French colonial territory The French colonial empire () comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates, and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French colonial empire", that ex ...

History

The party, which was initially intended to work as a political movement, was founded by

Barthélemy Boganda Barthélemy Boganda ( – 29 March 1959) was a Central African politician and independence activist. Boganda was active prior to his country's independence, during the period when the area, part of French Equatorial Africa, was administered by ...

Bangui Bangui (; or Bangî in Sango language, Sango, formerly written Bangi in English) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in the Central African Republic, largest city of the Central African Republic. It was established as a Fren ...

, Ubangi-Shari (later known as the

) on 28 September 1949, to connect "all the Blacks of the world" and "to promote the political, economic and social evolution of black Africa, to break down the barriers of tribalism and racism, to replace the degrading notion of colonial subordination with the more human ones of fraternity and cooperation." The statutes of the movement were written in April 1950, and the group's branches were set up in Ubangui, Fort Lamy and

Brazzaville Brazzaville () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Republic of the Congo. Administratively, it is a Departments of the Republic of the Congo, department and a Communes of the Republic of the Congo, commune. Constituting t ...

. The formation of MESAN did not sit well with the French territorial administration. They set up divisions of the

Rassemblement du Peuple Français The Rally of the French People ( , RPF) was a right-wing French political party, existing from 1947 to 1955 and led by Charles de Gaulle. Foundation The RPF was founded by Charles de Gaulle in Strasbourg on 14 April 1947, one year after his resi ...

(French People's Party, also known as RPF) in Ubangi-Shari to oppose the MESAN. The movement also encountered resistance in

French Equatorial Africa French Equatorial Africa (, or AEF) was a federation of French colonial territories in Equatorial Africa which consisted of Gabon, French Congo, Ubangi-Shari, and Chad. It existed from 1910 to 1958 and its administration was based in Brazzav ...

from the

Rassemblement Démocratique Africain The ''Rassemblement Démocratique Africain'', commonly known as the RDA and variously translated as African Democratic Assembly and African Democratic Rally, was a political party in French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa which was impo ...

(African Democratic Rally, RDA), a political party initially geared towards

Pan-Africanism Pan-Africanism is a nationalist movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all Indigenous peoples of Africa, indigenous peoples and diasporas of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atla ...

that later became hostile towards efforts for African independence. In the Territorial Assembly elections in 1957, MESAN captured 347,000 out of the total 356,000 votes cast and won every legislative seat, which led to Boganda being elected president of the Grand Council of

and vice-president of the Ubangi-Shari Government Council. Within a year, he declared the establishment of the Central African Republic and served as the country's first prime minister. MESAN continued to exist, but its role was limited. After Boganda's death in a plane crash on 29 March 1959,

Étienne N'Gounio Étienne, a French analog of Stephen or Steven, is a masculine given name. An archaic variant of the name, prevalent up to the mid-17th century, is Estienne. Étienne, Etienne, Ettiene or Ettienne may refer to: People Artists and entertainers * ...

, his confidant, became the head of MESAN, but Boganda's cousin,

David Dacko David Dacko (; 24 March 1930 – 20 November 2003) was a Central African politician who served as the first President of the Central African Republic from 14 August 1960 to 1 January 1966 and as the third President of the Central African Repub ...

was named as the replacement as the Head of State in a session in April 1959. Dacko won by 39 votes against his opponent

Abel Goumba Abel Nguéndé Goumba (; 18 September 1926 – 11 May 2009) was a Central African politician. During the late 1950s, he headed the government in the period prior to independence from France, and following independence he was an unsuccessful ...

's 11, despite Goumba being supported by N'Gounio. The party won every seat in the 1959 elections, with Dacko becoming the country's first president after the CAR formally received

independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

from France. Dacko threw out his political rivals, including former Prime Minister and Mouvement d'évolution démocratique de l'Afrique centrale (MEDAC) leader Abel Goumba, who he forced into exile in France. He secured the leadership of the party by hastily organising a party congress whilst N'Gounio was out of the capital in July 1960, therefore taking full control of the party. With all opposition parties suppressed by November 1962, Dacko declared MESAN as the official party of the state. MESAN won every seat again in the 1964 elections, whilst Dacko was re-elected as President in an unopposed election. On 31 December 1965, General

Jean-Bédel Bokassa Jean-Bédel Bokassa (; 22 February 1921 – 3 November 1996) was a Central African politician and military officer who served as the second president of the Central African Republic (CAR), after seizing power in the Saint-Sylvestre coup d ...

, a cousin of both Boganda and Dacko, seized power in the CAR through a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

. The next day, 1 January 1966, he proclaimed himself president, prime minister, and head of MESAN. Bokassa stayed in power for the next 13 years. In 1972, he appointed Elisabeth Domitien as vice president of the party, and three years later as prime minister, a first for any woman of an African nation. At the MESAN congress on 4 December 1976, Bokassa instituted a new constitution and declared the

republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, reigns as head of state for the rest of their life, or until abdication. The extent of the authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutio ...

, to be known as the

Central African Empire The Central African Empire () was established on 4 December 1976 when the then-President of the Central African Republic, Jean-Bédel Bokassa, declared himself Emperor of Central Africa. The empire would fall less than three years later when ...

. In September 1979, Bokassa was overthrown and Dacko once again became president of the CAR. On 24 November 1979, he abolished MESAN and replaced it with the Union Démocratique Centrafricaine, which he proclaimed as the new political party for the CAR. The party was re-established after the return of multi-party politics in the early 1990s. In the 1993 general elections it won a single seat in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

. The party nominated only one candidate for the 2011 elections,CAR: Number of National Assembly candidates by party in the 2011 election
EISA failing to win a seat.

History

Electoral history

Presidential elections

National Assembly elections

Footnotes

Sources

See also