Jules Razafimbahiny: an outstanding malagasy Public servant

Publié le 30 novembre 2016Mis à jour le 8 novembre 2022

In our #historytime series: Jules Alphonse Razafimbahiny, the second Ambassador of Madagascar to the United Kingdom from 1965 to 1967.

Jules Alphonse Razafimbahiny was born on April 19, 1922 in Mananjary, where his parents lived for a while.

A former student at the Institute for High Political Studies of the University of Paris, he graduated from the Institute of business law at the Law School of Paris then became one of the first Malagasy PhD graduates in Economics. His thesis was about semi-public companies in developing countries. Thereafter he was seconded to the Office de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique Outre-mer (O.R.S.T.O.M.), now called Institute of Research for Development (IRD).

As a union leader in the mid-50’s, he was a member of the French Confederation of Christian Workers. He has joined the administrative service in 1956 as an Attaché in the office of René Coty, then President of the Assembly of the French Union. From 1958 to 1960 he was the President of the commission of African countries associated with the Economic and Social Council of Common Market and EURATOM.

After the independence, he was appointed as the technical counsellor of his personal friend Jacques Rabemananjara, then State Minister in charge of National Economy. He was also appointed as the chairman of the board of the company “Energie de Madagascar” in May 1961

From September 1961 to September 1964, he became the first Secretary-General of the Organisation Commune Africaine et Malgache (OCAM), grouping French-speaking African territories created in september 1961. He was the Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs led by Albert Sylla from 1964 to 1965

On April 2, 1965 he was appointed as the Ambassador to Britain – the position was vacant since 1964 – and was also accredited in Italy, Greece and Israel. Two years later, he became the State Secretary of Foreign Affairs in charge of African and External economic affairs (1967-1970). In Italy, he has contributed to the creation of the « Association de l’Amitié Italo-Malgache » in 1970.

SEM l’ambassadeur Jules Razafimbahiny reçu dans les locaux de la Communauté Economique Européenne à Bruxelles

Afterwards, he was appointed as the second Malagasy Ambassador to the United States in February 1970, succeeding to Louis Rakotomalala. After the political crisis of 1972, he became a senior adviser of the Foreign Ministry in June 1972, then led by Capt. Didier Ratsiraka. In November 1973, he became the Malagasy Ambassador to Belgium and the Permanent Representative to the European Economic Community in Bruxelles, also accredited to Luxemburg, Netherlands, Switzerland, Holy See and the German Democratic Republic. He held this position until 1978, then became a top international civil servant once again.

After being an Interregional Adviser at the UN Department of Co-operation (DTCD, New York) and a Director at the World Food Programme in 1979, he became the UNDP Representative in Burundi from 1979 to 1983, assuming the Coordination of the UN System’s activities in 1981.

A renowned analyst of international relations, he was a member of the Editorial board of the Society for Institute Development (Washington, D.C.), and of the College of Economic and Social Studies, Institut d’Etudes de Développement Economique et Social of Paris. A member of the “Club of Dakar”, he was also part of the economic council of the ORSTOM. During the mid-80s, he created an international foundation called FIDAEM (based in London) in order to support the economic development of Madagascar.

Also a leader of the liberal and catholic wing of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) of Philibert Tsiranana, he has represented Madagascar at the 56th Congress of the French Section of the Workers’ International (SFIO, which later became the Socialist Party) in 1967.

A great pianist, he was the son of Marguerite Ramasinoro and Alphonse Razafimbahiny. The latter was shot on Mey 8, 1947 for his participation to the insurrection of March 1947 and was a descendant of Ambassador Andriantsitohaina and King Andriambelomasina.

#UKMadagascar #history #internationalrelations

Photo: https://buff.ly/38lwnTa

Chevening Alumni Madagascar