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Fulbert Youlou
1st President of Republic of the Congo
In office 15 August 1960 – 15 August 1963
Preceded by	None
Succeeded by	Alphonse Massemba-Débat
2nd Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo
In office 8 December 1958 – 21 November 1959
Preceded by	Jacques Opangault
Succeeded by	Post abolished, 1959–1963; Alphonse Massemba-Débat
Born	9 June, 17 June or 9 July 1917 Madibou, Moyen-Congo
Died	6 May 1972 (aged 54) Madrid, Spain
Nationality	Congolese
Political party	Union Démocratique pour la Défense d'Intérêts Africains
Religion	Roman Catholic

Abbé Fulbert Youlou (9 June,^[1] 17 June ^[2] or 9 July 1917^[3] – 6 May 1972) was a Brazzaville-Congolese Roman Catholic priest, nationalist leader and politician.

Early life

Youlou, whose last name means "heaven" in Lari,^[4] was born the son of a Lari merchant in Madibou, Moyen-Congo. He was baptized at age nine and three years later, entered a seminary.^[5] He attended mission schools in Gabon, Cameroon, and Mbamu, where he met Barthélemy Boganda, the future nationalist leader of Oubangui-Chari and the first president of the Central African Republic. He taught in mission schools in French Moyen-Congo and was ordained as a Catholic priest in either 1946^[5] or 1949.^[6] In defiance of orders from his superiors, he ran unsuccessfully in the 1956 elections for the French Assembly and was then defrocked by the church. Ignoring the church's decision, he continued to wear his ecclesiastical robes. Due to his defrocking, he was acclaimed by his fellow countrymen as being a victim of discrimination, which helped launch his political career.^[7] Soon after, he took control of Amicale, an anti-French, quasi-religious Lari self-help organization founded by the now-deceased André Matsoua.^[5]

He lost the 2 January 1956 territorial assembly elections by a close margin; he finished third with 27.6% of the vote, behind 31% for Felix Tchicaya and 29.1% for Jacques Opangault.^[6] However, the loss only skyrocketed his political profile amongst the Congolese people. With his newfound support, on 29 May he founded the Union Démocratique pour la Défense d'Intérêts Africains (UDDIA; English: Democratic Union for the Defense of African Interests), a political party supporting close relations with France, to compete with Tchicaya's Parti Progressiste Congolais (PPC; English: Congolese Progressive Party) and Opangault's Mouvement Socialiste Africain (MSA; English: African Socialist Movement) parties.^[6][8] In November 1959, Youlou filed papers declaring his candidacy for the election of the mayor of Brazzaville. However, these papers were in fact supposed to be filed in Pointe-Noire. French colonial officials, knowledgeable of Boganda's drastic rise to power in Ubangui-Shari, did not want to take the risk of letting Youlou's request lapse and causing a large uproar amongst the public, so they informed him of his error. They believed that they could utilize Youlou's influence among the Lari people to their benefit.^[9] Youlou won the vote of the majority of Brazzaville's Bakongo population to become the first black elected mayor in French Equatorial Africa.^[10] His surprise victory drastically altered the political landscape in Congo.^[9]

Entrance into national government

In May 1957, he was appointed Minister of Agriculture and deputy to the provisional Legislative Assembly of the Congo by Prime Minister Opangault.^[11][12] Tchicaya's PPC collapsed almost entirely soon afterward, leaving Opanagult and Youlou as the main political contenders in the 1957 legislative elections, which resulted in a stalemate. The UDDIA finally achieved a majority in Congo's legislative assembly the following year.^[13] That year, Opangault and Youlou supported political autonomy, which French President Charles de Gaulle considered giving to the Franco-African Community.^[8] A change of majority in the assembly resulted in the formation of a provisional government headed by Youlou on 8 December 1958.^[14]

Antagonism between the Mbochi (who supported Opangault) and Balali (who supported Youlou) ethnic groups resulted in a series of riots in Brazzaville in February 1959, which had to be subdued by the French army. Youlou used the series of events to attack the opposition.^[8] Through gerrymandering, Youlou's UDDIA party obtained 84% of the legislative seats after only receiving 58% of the vote in the April 1959 legislative elections. Three months later, he formed a new government, which was shortly joined thereafter by Opangault and the MSA. By the time independence was declared in the Republic of the Congo in August 1960, Opangault had agreed to serve under Youlou in a highly symbolic position.^[8]

The neocolonial Youlou regime was described as being mildly corrupt, aimless in domestic policy, and deferential to France. The high-profile development projects it undertook did little to help ordinary Congolese citizens, and its pro-Katanga foreign policy irritated many of Congo's left-wing educated urban youth and bureaucrats. When Youlou planned to make the UDDIA the sole legal party of the country, the general population resisted. Youlou's regime was brought to its demise following three days of street riots in August 1963, which became known as "les trois glorieuses".^[15] Youlou was succeeded by a string of leaders who were committed to a form of socialist development for Congo. They were all committed to maintaining a one-party state in Congo.^[13]

Notes

References

• Young, Eric (1999), "Youlou, Fulbert", in Appiah, Kwame Anthony; Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, New York: Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-00071-1, OCLC 41649745 .
• (French) Bernault, Florence (1996), Démocraties ambiguës en Afrique centrale: Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon, 1940-1965, Paris: Karthala, ISBN 2865376362, OCLC 36142247 .
• Clark, John F. (1997), "Congo: Transition and the Struggle to Consolidate", in Clark, John F.; Gardinier, David E., Political Reform in Francophone Africa, Boulder: Westview Press, ISBN 0-8133-2785-7, OCLC 35318507 .
• Gale Research Company (1999), Encyclopedia of World Biography, 16, Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Company, ISBN 0787622214, OCLC 37813530, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5229/is_2003/ai_n19151304 .
• Italiaander, Rolf (1961), The New Leaders of Africa, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, OCLC 565528 .
• Lentz, Harris M. (1994), Heads of States and Governments: A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Over 2,300 Leaders, 1945 through 1992, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, ISBN 0899509266, OCLC 30075961 .
• Matthews, Ronald (1966), African Powder Keg: Revolt and Dissent in Six Emergent Nations, London: The Bodley Head, OCLC 246401461 .
• Mengisteab, Kidane; Daddieh, Cyril, eds. (1999), State Building and Democratization in Africa, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, ISBN 0-275-96353-5, OCLC 39013781 .

Heads of state of the Republic of the Congo Youlou • Massemba-Débat • Raoul*† • Ngouabi† •Military Committee of the Congolese Labour Party†• Yhombi-Opango† • Sassou Nguesso • Lissouba • Sassou Nguesso * acting     † military

Prime Ministers of the Republic of the Congo Colonial: Opangault • Youlou • post abolished, 1959–63 • Independent: Massemba-Débat • Lissouba • Noumazalaye • Alfred Raoul† • post abolished, 1969–73 • Lopès • Goma • Poungui • Poaty-Souchlaty • Moussa* • Goma • Milongo • Bongho-Nouarra • Dacosta • Yhombi-Opango • Ganao • Kolélas • post abolished, 1997–2005 • Mvouba • post abolished, 2009–present * acting     † military