ABSTRACT
Four of the remaining seven territories in French West Africa—Senegal, Soudan, Dahomey and Upper Volta—came together with the idea of forming a federal state under the name of Mali. But two of them withdrew before the state was constituted, leaving the new state of Mali to be formed by Soudan and Senegal alone. The new state asked the French Government to grant it full independence, but agreed to go on cooperating closely with France. Independence was granted in April 1960, and all the remaining French territories in Africa naturally asked for independence on the same terms, and received it. Independence, which seemed to be almost within Nkrumah’s grasp, was delayed by the rise of a rival party, the National Liberation Movement. There were many people in the Gold Coast who had their own reasons for opposing the triumphant Convention People’s Party.
