Augustin Azango

Augustin Kokou Azango, born August 28, 1897, in Grand-Popo in Dahomey (current Benin) and died September 27, 1971, in the same city, is a journalist, politician, businessman, Dahomean diplomat, co-founder and leader of the first political party of the history of his country, the Dahomeyan Progressive Union (UPD).

Education
Augustin Azango was born on August 28, 1897, in Grand-Popo in Dahomey, to a merchant father. His name is Kokoun. During his baptism, his parents gave him the Christian first name of Augustin. He later became a student at the school of the fathers, at the Catholic mission of Grand-Popo.

In 1921, he was one of the founding members of the Nonvitcha association, for which he wrote the internal regulations. Nonvitcha's initial aim was to bring together the Xwéda and the Xwla, peoples living mainly in the coastal area of Dahomey.

In 1924, in order to pursue his higher studies, he left Dahomey for France where he settled in Paris. He was admitted to HEC Paris, Sciences Po and the École supérieure de journalisme de Paris. It was at this time that he discovered the beginnings of political organization, being appointed secretary general of Benin, an association bringing together Dahomean and Togolese students residing in France and whose headquarters were at the Lutetia hotel. It is also known as Gbedjinovi, which means “the brothers who are outside”. Louis Ignacio-Pinto, one of his future political acolytes, is its president.

Career
After completing his studies, Augustin Azango worked for a time at Dunlop before becoming a journalist. In Paris, in 1934, he created and directed Métromer, an overseas press agency, which published a fortnightly newsletter. Augustin Azango returned to Dahomey in 1939; a metropolitan agri-food group, specializing in the manufacture of fruit juices, entrusted him with the mission of prospecting in the colonies of French West Africa in order to assess the capacity and quality of their fruit production.

When the World War II broke out, France called on the populations of mainland France and overseas to participate in the war effort. Augustin Azango contributes by seeking to mobilize Africans. As part of his professional activity, he makes regular return trips between Dahomey and Togo, particularly between Grand-Popo and Anéchon, and takes the opportunity to disseminate allied propaganda in Togo.

The formation of political parties is now permitted; thus in April 1946, on the foundations of the electoral committees, Augustin Azango co-founded, with Émile Derlin Zinsou, the first party in the history of the colony, the Dahomeyan Progressive Union (UPD), of which the journalist became its leader.

The first territorial elections in Dahomey, which were held between December 15, 1946, and January 5, 1947, saw Augustin Azango elected general councilor to the second college in the second constituency, Abomey-Ouidah circles.

The territorial elections of 1952 seemed to be the “swan song” for the UPD; among the 20 party candidates elected in the first elections of 1946–1947, none managed to retain their seat. Worse, no other candidate presented was elected and the UPD was no longer represented in the General Council.

For Augustin Azango, sad and worn out by the various crises he has had to endure and worried about those he sees looming, this is one failure too many. The “leading figure of the UPD [...] [, who has been] in all the past political battles”, is withdrawing from political life following these results.

The UPD eventually merged with the BPA in 1955 to form the Dahomeyan Democratic Union.

In parallel with his political activities, Augustin Azango went into business and became a company director. In August 1949, in Cotonou, in the company of, among others, Émile Bodé Zinsou, Sourou-Migan Apithy and Louis Ignacio-Pinto, he co-founded a maritime, river, rail, air and road transit and transport company, African Express, of which he is appointed manager.

At the beginning of 1950, he was a minority partner in a public works company, Nouvelle Entreprise Togolaise, whose head office was established in Lomé. One of the main partners and manager of the company is none other than Nicolas Grunitzky, future president of Togo, then a public works contractor. Augustin Azango transferred all his shares to him five years later.

Even far from politics, Augustin Azango remains a man appreciated by those who do it; Moreover, during his life, Émile Derlin Zinsou never missed an opportunity to express the admiration and respect he had for him. Thus, according to the different governments that parade, he is regularly called upon to help the various administrations to build themselves. In July 1958, he was assigned to the Ministry of Planning and Development. After the independence of Dahomey, he was called for his expertise and was appointed technical advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs on April 8, 1961.

In the summer of 1963, President Hubert Maga sent him to Accra, Ghana, as chargé d'affaires and assumed the role of ambassador, effective October 17 of the same year, when he presented his letters of credence to the President of the Ghanaian Republic Kwame Nkrumah, in front of the very first ambassador of Dahomey to this country. Despite the coup d'état suffered by Dahomey on October 28, 1963, and the change of government that followed, he retained his post and was officially named extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador on January 1, 1964.

Augustin Azango, perceived by Robert Dossou as “a monument of the political and social life of Dahomey” and “greatly forgotten in the political history [of his country]”, was, at the end of his life, ill, half-remembered. paralyzed and living isolated in his house in Hounsoukoué Plage, Grand-Popo, until his death on September 27, 1971, at the age of 74.

Award

 * National Order of Benin