African Socialist Movement was a political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 in French West Africa

French West Africa

French West Africa was a federation of eight French colonial territories in Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan , French Guinea , Côte d'Ivoire , Upper Volta , Dahomey and Niger...

. The MSA was formed following a meeting of the Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière

Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière

The French Section of the Workers' International , founded in 1905, was a French socialist political party, designed as the local section of the Second International...

 (SFIO) federations of Cameroon

Cameroon

Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...

, Chad

Chad

Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...

, the Republic of the Congo

Republic of the Congo

The Republic of the Congo , sometimes known locally as Congo-Brazzaville, is a state in Central Africa. It is bordered by Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo , the Angolan exclave province of Cabinda, and the Gulf of Guinea.The region was dominated by...

, French Sudan

French Sudan

French Sudan was a colony in French West Africa that had two separate periods of existence, first from 1890 to 1899, then from 1920 to 1960, when the territory became the independent nation of Mali.-Colonial establishment:...

 (now Mali

Mali

Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...

), Gabon

Gabon

Gabon , officially the Gabonese Republic is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west...

, Guinea

Guinea

Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...

, Niger

Niger

Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...

, Oubangui-Chari

Oubangui-Chari

Oubangui-Chari, or Ubangi-Shari, was a French territory in central Africa which later became the independent Central African Republic . French activity in the area began in 1889 with the establishment of an outpost at Bangui, now the capital of CAR. The territory was named in 1894.In 1903, French...

 (now the Central African Republic

Central African Republic

The Central African Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It borders Chad in the north, Sudan in the north east, South Sudan in the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo in the south, and Cameroon in the west. The CAR covers a land area of about ,...

), and Senegal

Senegal

Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...

; the meeting was held in Conakry

Conakry

Conakry is the capital and largest city of Guinea. Conakry is a port city on the Atlantic Ocean and serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea with a 2009 population of 1,548,500...

 from January 11 to January 13, 1957. At that meeting it was decided that the African federations would break with its French parent organisation and form the MSA.

The first meeting of the leading committee of MSA met in Dakar

Dakar

Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

 from February 9 to February 10 the same year. Two SFIO delegates attended the session. MSA opted for a federalist solution for French West Africa

French West Africa

French West Africa was a federation of eight French colonial territories in Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan , French Guinea , Côte d'Ivoire , Upper Volta , Dahomey and Niger...

. On March 26, 1958, the MSA signed a declaration in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 merging itself into the African Regroupment Party

African Regroupment Party

The African Regroupment Party 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 replace the French Union. The main founding organizations were the African Convention and the...

 (PRA).

Leadership

At its founding, Lamine Guèye became the president of MSA, Barry III

Barry III

Ibrahima Barry, popularily known as Barry III, was a Guinean politician. He was the leader of the political party Socialist Democracy of Guinea ....

 the general secretary and Djibo Bakary

Djibo Bakary

Djibo Bakary 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...

 the deputy general secretary.

Sections

The Senegal

Senegal

Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...

ese section of MSA was the Senegalese Party of Socialist Action

Senegalese Party of Socialist Action

Senegalese Party of Socialist Action was a political party in Senegal led by Lamine Guèye...

 (PSAS), and it was led by Lamine Guèye. In Guinea, the Socialist Democracy of Guinea

Socialist Democracy of Guinea

The Socialist Democracy of Guinea was a political party in Guinea. DSG was founded in the run-up to the 1954 legislative election by Abdoulaye Diallo, Chaikou Baldé and Ibrahima Barry . DSG was a continuation of the party led by Yaciné Diallo...

 was the section of MSA. The Sudanese section of MSA was the Progressive Sudanese Party

Progressive Sudanese Party

Progressive Sudanese Party was a political party in French Soudan . The party was led by Fily Dabo Sissoko. Politically it represented a conservative traditionalist position, and drew support from traditional chiefs. It was founded in December 1945 by Sissoko, son of a canton chief, and Hamadoun...

, while what became the Niger section retained the MSA name as the Mouvement Socialiste Africain-Sawaba

Sawaba

The Union of Popular Forces for Democracy and Progress-Sawaba is a political party in Niger, founded as the Nigerien Democratic Union in 1954. The original party, founded by Nigerien Progressive Party co-leader Djibo Bakary when he was expelled from the PPN...

.