The 'African Regroupment Party' (in
French: ''Parti du Regroupement Africain'') was a
political party in the French African colonies.
PRA to into being at a meeting in
Paris March 26
1958. The main founding organizations were the
African Convention and the
African Socialist Movement. Other parties that assisted the Paris meeting included the
African Bloc of Guinea,
Social Party of the Masses (
Gabon),
Republican Union of Côte des Somalis (
Djibouti),
Dahomeyan Democratic Rally and the
Voltaic Democratic Movement.
Initially there was hope that the
African Democratic Rally (RDA) would join the project and
Sékou Touré had signed the appeal on behalf of RDA calling for the formation of the party, but
Félix Houphouët-Boigny intervened to keep his party outside. The
African Independence Party (PAI) attended the Paris meeting, but declined to merge into PRA. PAI advocayed full independence, a demand that PRA at that point was not willing to raise.
PRA held its constitutive congress in
Cotonou July 25-27
1958. PRA strove to create an independent federation out of the French colonies in Africa.
During the referendum of
1958 PRA advocated full independence. This led to a collision course between PRA and its
Senegalese section, the
Senegalese Progressive Union (UPS). The result was a split in UPS, and the formation of
African Regroupment Party-Senegal (PRA-Sénégal).
In
Côte d'Ivoire the party came into conflict with the
Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI), and the PRA leadership was exiled to
Conakry. There it became the nucleus of Ivorian opposition, such as the
National Liberation Committee of Côte d'Ivoire (CNLCI).
In
Upper Volta the
Voltaic Solidarity group (
PSEMA,
MDV and
MPA) joined PRA. The PRA section disappeared as the country became a single-party state in
1960, but the
African Regroupment Party of Upper Volta, a group claiming to be the inheritors of PRA, emerged following the coup in
1966.
Source:
★ Gbagbo, Laurent: ''Côte d'Ivoire, Pour une alternative démocratique''. Paris: L'Harmattan, 1983.
★ Englebert, Pierre. ''La Revolution Burkinabè''. Paris: L'Harmattan, 1986.
★ Zuccarelli, François. ''La vie politique sénégalaise (1940-1988)''. Paris: CHEAM, 1988.