Barry III

Barry III
General Secretary of the PRA Guinean Branch
In office
April 1958  November 1958
Preceded by Guinean Branch founded
Succeeded by PRA dissolved
General Secretary of the MSA
In office
1957  26 March 1958
Succeeded by Merged into PRA
General Secretary of the DSG
In office
1954  April 1958
Preceded by Yaciné Diallo
Succeeded by DSG dissolved
Personal details
Born Ibrahima Barry
1923
Bantiŋel, Pita, French West Africa
Died 25 January, 1971 (aged 48)
Conakry, Guinea
Political party MSA
Other political
affiliations
DSG
Alma mater École normale supérieure William Ponty
Profession Politician, Lawyer

Ibrahima Barry, popularly known as Barry III, (1923, in Bantiŋel, Pita January 25, 1971, in Conakry) was a Guinean politician. He was the leader of the political party Socialist Democracy of Guinea (DSG).[1]

Barry hailed from an aristocratic family of the Seeriyaabhe clan.[1] A graduate of École normale supérieure William Ponty, Barry became a lawyer in France.[2] Barry counted on strong support from the people and administration in the Fouta Jallon region in northern Guinea.[3] In particular, he represented the younger educated generation of the elite sectors of Fula society.[2] Barry was also a freemason.[4]

Barry was the DSG candidate in the 1954 legislative by-election.[2] He obtained 16,098 votes (6.3% of the vote in Guinea).[5] Barry had overtaken the position as the leader of the socialist movement after Yaciné Diallo (whose death had provoked the holding of the by-election in 1954), but Barry III's hostile discourse against the Fula traditional chiefs (who had supported Diallo) aliented large sections of former supporters of Diallo.[6]

Ahead of the 1956 election, the Democratic Party of Guinea (PDG) offered Barry to be one of their three candidates for the legislative election (along with Sékou Touré). Barry III, however, rejected the offer.[7]

In the same year, Barry III stood as candidate for mayor of Conakry (in which he was defeated by Sékou Touré).[8]

In 1957, Barry became the general secretary of the African Socialist Movement (MSA).[9]

In the first government of independent Guinea, Barry was included as a minister.[10]

After the merger of DSG into the African Regroupment Party (PRA), Barry became the general secretary of the Guinean branch of PRA.[11] In November 1958 the Guinean PRA was dissolved, and Barry III instructed his followers to join the PDG.[12]

Barry was arrested in December 1970. He was held prisoner at Camp Alpha Yahya. On January 25, 1971 he was hanged in public at Tombo Bridge in Conakry.[1]

Nickname

Barry III was sometimes nicknamed Syliyoré (Susu for "Little Elephant"), a reference to the similarities between his political programme and that of Sékou Touré (who was commonly nicknamed Syli, "Elephant").[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Camp Boiro Memorial. Barry Ibrahima dit Barry III (1923-1971)
  2. 1 2 3 Schmidt, Elizabeth. Cold War and Decolonization in Guinea, 1946-1958. Western African studies. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2007. p. 70
  3. Camara, Mohamed Saliou. His Master's Voice: Mass Communication and Single-Party Politics in Guinea Under Sékou Touré. Trenton, NJ [u.a.]: Africa World Press, 2005. p. 53
  4. Le Monde diplomatique. A strange inheritance
  5. Schmidt, Elizabeth. Cold War and Decolonization in Guinea, 1946-1958. Western African studies. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2007. p. 73
  6. Schmidt, Elizabeth. Cold War and Decolonization in Guinea, 1946-1958. Western African studies. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2007. p. 94
  7. Schmidt, Elizabeth. Cold War and Decolonization in Guinea, 1946-1958. Western African studies. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2007. p. 98
  8. Schmidt, Elizabeth. Cold War and Decolonization in Guinea, 1946-1958. Western African studies. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2007. p. 115
  9. Schmidt, Elizabeth. Cold War and Decolonization in Guinea, 1946-1958. Western African studies. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2007. p. 136
  10. Schmidt, Elizabeth. Cold War and Decolonization in Guinea, 1946-1958. Western African studies. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2007. p. 172
  11. Coleman, James Smoot, and Carl Gustav Rosberg. Political Parties and National Integration in Tropical Africa. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1964. p. 195
  12. Schmidt, Elizabeth. Cold War and Decolonization in Guinea, 1946-1958. Western African studies. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2007. p. 272
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