Blaise Rabetafika

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. 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. From 1973 to 1974 he was Vice President of the United Nations United Nations Economic and Social Committee.

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. In June 1992, he retired, leaving his positions as ambassador to Cuba and Permanent Representative to the UN.[3]