secure 12 of the 20 seats from West and Equatorial Africa in the 1947 election (including making Moutet himself a representative from the French Sudan). When the RDA members arrived in Paris, they were provided significant support and advice from the Communist party (and particularly Aimé Césaire from Martinique) which relied significantly on their voting block. This bond was further strengthened when the coalition government named Popular Republican Movement politician Paul Coste-Floret as the Ministre de la France d'Outre-mer governing the colonies. Coste-Floret began an era of very rigid policy towards the colonies and particularly towards movements perceived to be pushing for independence. However, two changes served to exacerbate divisions within the membership of the RDA. First, in May 1947 the coalition between the MRP, the SFIO, and the Communists had dissolved. It is important to note that this dissolution coincides with American financing of Europe, including France, in the post-World War II period. The United States warned European nations that they would not receive financial support to reconstruct their nations if communist parties were a part of their ruling governmental bodies. This introduced significant differences between the parties which had before been set aside and meant that the Communists saw decreasing power to offer their RDA allies. Second, the French divided the Upper Volta from the Ivory Coast in order to try and reduce the power of Houphouët-Boigny and the RDA. The plan appeared to work when in 1948, Zinda Kaboré was killed and the Mossi chiefs in Upper Volta, who had renounced the RDA and connected with the MRP, were able to appoint Nazi Boni to fill the position. These two factors combined to make many of the National Assembly delegates, particularly those with large Catholic constituencies in their colonies, feel uneasy about the coalition with the Communist party. Apithy, from Dahomey, in particular raised the issue many times and when his efforts to end the coalition failed, he formed a new regional political party in September 1948, the Indépendants d'Outre-Mer (IOM). The IOM included Apithy, the three new members from the Upper Volta, and three other members from throughout West and Equatorial Africa. The formation of the IOM coincided precisely with the naming of a new Prime Minister, Robert Schuman, to present his cabinet in what would be a very close vote. During the debate on this cabinet, Apithy presented Schuman with a number of questions regarding