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CREATING MALI 27achieved. In fact, within the Malian state, two nationalisms and two nationsstrove for different goals.From Soudan Français to the Mali RepublicDecolonisation in French Africa was closely linked to the Free French realitiesof World War II and the post-war interpretation of these realities by bothFrench and African leaders. While French West Africa (AOF) sided with VichyFrance at the start of the war, French Equatorial Africa (AEF) rallied to deGaulle. Brazzaville became the capital of Free France. Most Free French Forceswere African conscripts who eventually participated in the liberation of metropolitanFrance. 9 As in World War I, massive African conscription was obtainedon the quid pro quo ‘blood for rights’. In the Brazzaville declaration of 1944, deGaulle promised the colonial subjects more liberties after the war, notably theabolition of the indigénat, which would be replaced by a citizenship in a FrenchUnion, a promise kept during the slow but gradual process of decolonisation. 10The first elections where African candidates could present themselves to anAfrican electorate were those for the Constitutional Assembly that drafted theconstitution of the Fourth Republic and its colonial dependencies in October1945. 11 Soudan Français elected Fily Dabo Sissoko as its territorial representative.The political process that saw the creation of the French Fourth Republicalso restyled the colonial empire into the Union Française that came into beingin October 1946. The indigénat was abolished, a principal demand of theAfrican representatives, and replaced by a citizenship of the new French Union.The Overseas Territories could create their own assemblies, first called ConseilsGénéraux and later Assemblées Territoriales, with growing competencies overthe decade to come. Its members were elected by a gradually expanding electorate.Along with the creation of territorial assemblies in this post-war decolonisationprocess came the freedom to create political parties.In February 1956, the French overseas territories entered a new phase towardsindependence. First, the Loi Gaston Deferre that sought to clear the roadfor reform of the Union Française was adopted. These reforms took shape inthe loi-cadre, adopted later that same month. The loi-cadre was in fact a frameworkfor a series of laws, many of which were initiated by African senators, thatprovided internal autonomy to the colonies within the Union Française through91011Mann, G. 2006.Ageron, C-R., ed., 1986. I here follow a more or less standard interpretation on theeffects of WWII on French decolonisation. For a more elaborate view on the ‘bloodfor rights’ and the subsequent creation of a historical discourse of debt, see Mann,G. 2006.Based on Campmas, P. 1978.