Blaise Rabetafika

Rabetafika was born on 3 February 1932 in Antananarivo, in what was then French Madagascar.^[1] The second of Albert Joseph Rabetafika, a teacher, and Ramboahangimalala Hélène, a weaver, he had an older brother, Roland.^[1][2] His father's family were Protestant.^[1] His paternal grandfather, Joseph Rabetafika, was a minister, and his great-grandfather, Josefa Andrianaivoravelona, was the pastor of Queen Ranavalona III, and accompanied her in exile to Réunion.^[1] On his mother's side, he is the grandson of René Rahoërson, the first Malagasy physician at the Institut Pasteur of Madagascar.^[1] While they were not a wealthy family, Rabetafika's parents raised their children with the values of discipline, honesty, and a Protestant sense of austerity.^[1]

Rabetafika completed his secondary education at the Lycée Galliéni, graduating in 1950 at 18.^[1] He then went on to study at the University of Toulouse in Toulouse, France.^[1] There, he earned a Licentiate in Classics in 1953, followed by a Diploma of Higher Studies in English Literature in 1955 and a CAPES degree in 1956.^[1] At some point, he also studied in England.^[1]

After graduating from the University of Toulouse, Rabetafika taught in England and France before returning to Madagascar.^[1] In 1960, at age 28, he became the youngest member of the Malagasy delegation that negotiated Madagascar's independence from France.^[1][3]

From 1960 to 1963, he was the advisor for cultural affairs at the Madagascar delegation in France.^[1] From 1961 to 1963, he was the Permanent Delegate of Madagascar to UNESCO in Paris,^[3] before briefly serving as Technical Advisor for East African Affairs to the President of Madagascar in 1963.^[1] FRom 1963 to 1969, he was a member delegate to the United Nations General Assembly.^{[citation needed]} From 1964 to 1967, he was the Chief of Staff of the Minister of Foreign Affairs.^[1][3]

In 1967, Rabetafika entered the diplomatic service.^[1] He served as Deputy Permanent Representative of Madagascar to the United Nations, before serving as Consul General in New York in 1968.^[1] From 1968 to 1969, he was acting Permanent Representative to the UN.^[1] The next year, he was appointed Permanent Representative of Madagascar to the United Nations.^[1][3] He presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General U Thant on 26 September 1969.^[4] He served concurrently as the Malagasy Ambassador to Canada and the Ambassador to Cuba, beginning in 1970 and 1974, respectively.^[1] As a diplomat, he was widely respected, often solicited for advice, and nicknamed "the Big Brother" by his colleagues.^[1][5] He was noted by some to have been considered as a successor to Javier Pérez de Cuéllar or Boutros Boutros-Ghali as Secretary-General of the United Nations, but this never came to fruition.^[1] In 1973, he was Vice Chairman of the United Nations Political Committee.^{[citation needed]} From 1973 to 1974 he was Vice President of the United Nations United Nations Economic and Social Committee.^{[citation needed]}

In March 1985 and again in June 1986, Rabetafika served as President of the United Nations Security Council.^[6] He was, to this day, the only representative of Madagascar to serve in the position.^[5] In 1990, he lobbied successfully for the election of Raymond Ranjeva as judge on the International Court of Justice, making him the first and only Malagasy justice ever to serve on the court.^[1] Rabetafika stepped down as ambassador to Canada in 1989.^{[citation needed]} In June 1992, he retired, leaving his positions as ambassador to Cuba and Permanent Representative to the UN.^[3]

Rabetafika died on 17 December 2000 in Antananarivo, aged 68.^[1]