Nazi Boni

Monument for the Burkinabe politician and writer Nazi Boni in Dédougou, Burkina Faso

Nazi Boni (December 31, 1909, in Bwan, Upper Senegal and Niger – May 16, 1969, in Kokologho, Upper Volta) was a politician from Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso). In 1948 Boni was elected to the French National Assembly on behalf of the Voltaic Union (UV), and was re-elected in 1951 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 (MPA) after a split from the UV. In January 1957, Boni's MPA took part in the founding of the African Convention, a pan-African party that later merged into the African Regroupment Party.

From December 1957 to February 1958 Boni served as President of the Territorial Assembly. 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 under the Voltaic Democratic Union. Boni was forced into exile in Dakar, Senegal.

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 and the Volta-Bani War.

References

• page on the French National Assembly website