webFuuta / History

Joseph Earl Harris
The Kingdom of Fouta-Diallon

Evanston, Illinois. 1965. 180 p. (Ph.D. Dissertation in History)

Protectorate Treaty of 6 February 1897
between France and Fouta-Diallon*

Articles

  1. The Almamys place Fouta-Diallon under French authority.
  2. France is obliged to respect the constitution of Fouta-Diallon which will function under the authority of the Governor of Guinea and under the direct control of a French official who will take the title of Resident of Fouta-Diallon.
  3. Recognized Almamys will exercise power alternately, conforming to the constitution of Fouta-Diallon.
  4. In case of death or renunciation of power by an Almamy, his successor will be presented by the chiefs of the provinces; his nomination must be approved by the Governor of Guinea and Governor-general of French West Africa.
  5. The chiefs of the provinces will be named by the Almamy, after having been previously presented to and agreed upon by the Governor of Guinea.
  6. France will establish where it deems necessary residences, military posts, and public works.
  7. Commerce will be done freely and on an equal footing between the indigenous people and the French. French commerce will be exempt from all interior duties.
  8. Subsequent conventions to be arranged between the Governor of Guinea and the Almamy will regulate, after approval by the Governor-general of West Africa, the conditions in which concessions of land should be made to French citizens, as well as duties which will be laid on the people of Fouta-Diallon.
    A part of these taxes will be reserved to the Almamy and provincial chiefs.
  9. All former treaties are abrogated.
  10. The present treaty will be submitted for ratification by the government of the French republic.

Made in triple copies at Timbo on 6 Februar 1897 and signed in French and Arabic.

*Translation from the French text of the Treaty in the Guinean archives.