On 27 October 1940 the Empire Defence Council was established to organise and administrate the imperial possessions under Free French rule, and as an alternative provisional French government. It was constituted of high-ranking officers and the governors of the free colonies, notably governor Félix Éboué of Chad. Its creation was announced by the Brazzaville Manifesto that day. was what de Gaulle claimed to represent, or rather, as he put it simply, ""; Vichy France was a "pseudo government", an illegal entity.