Benin

V

Government

From 1977 through 1989, Benin was governed by an elected legislature, the National Revolutionary Assembly. This unicameral (single-chamber) body elected a president, who ruled as head of the National Executive Council. The People’s Revolutionary Party of Benin, a Marxist-Leninist group, was the sole political party. The government abandoned Marxism-Leninism as the official ideology in 1989.

A new constitution approved by popular referendum in 1990 provided for a democratic, multiparty system with an elected National Assembly and a popularly elected president. The 83 members of the unicameral National Assembly serve four-year terms, and the president, who is both head of state and government, serves a five-year term. Since the introduction of multiparty politics in 1990, dozens of political parties have formed. Benin is divided into six provinces (Atacora, Atlantique, Borgou, Mono, Ouémé, Zou) for administrative purposes.

VI

History

Some time before 1600 it is thought that the Adja people migrated from the town of Tado on the Mono River (in Togo). They settled about 32 km (20 mi) from the coast and founded the village of Allada, where they mixed with the Fon and founded a kingdom. Allada became the capital of the kingdom, which reached the height of its power in the 16th and 17th centuries.

A

The Kingdom of Dahomey

In the early 17th century a dispute over the succession to the throne led two rival princes to leave Allada with bands of followers and found their own kingdoms. One kingdom became known as Porto-Novo, because of a trading post established there by the Portuguese. The other prince moved inland and at Abomey founded the kingdom of Dahomey. This kingdom dominated the area until the 19th century.

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By the late 17th century the Fon people were raiding and conquering small tribes to their north to have slaves to exchange for manufactures from Europe. The slaves were exported at coastal ports to plantations in the Americas. In the late 1720s Agaja, king of Dahomey, conquered the four southern kingdoms. His conquests brought him into conflict with the Yoruba people to the east, from which the defeated rulers sought assistance. After the Yoruba captured Abomey in 1738, Dahomey maintained its independence only by agreeing to pay an annual tribute. Dahomey then turned to expansion northward.

The abolition of the slave trade in the 1830s and after dealt a blow to Dahomey’s prosperity, but King Glélé, with the aid of European traders, found a remunerative substitute in the oil palm. A French firm started the oil palm industry in Dahomey, and the king signed a treaty of friendship and trade with France in 1851.

B

Colonization

Rivalry between France and Britain on the African coast was heightened in 1861, after British forces won the town of Lagos (now in Nigeria) from Dahomey. France had already established a trading post at Grand-Popo in 1857. By two treaties signed in 1868 and 1878, the Cotonou area, lying between Ouidah and Porto-Novo, was ceded to France. Glélé’s successor, Béhanzin, tried to regain the land, which was essential to continued participation in the slave trade, but was routed by the French in 1892. The Dahomey kingdom was then declared a French protectorate. After a brief period in which he led guerrilla bands against the French, Béhanzin was captured in January 1894 and exiled to Martinique.

In 1899 Dahomey was incorporated into French West Africa, with its exact boundaries defined through accords with Britain and Germany, colonizers of the neighboring areas to the east and west, respectively. At the end of World War I (1914-1918), the eastern part of the German colony of Togo was put under French mandate. Dahomey, as part of French West Africa, adhered to the cause of the Free French during World War II (1939-1945), and in 1946 it became one of the French overseas territories; from 1958 to 1960 it was an autonomous republic of the French Community. Independence was proclaimed on August 1, 1960, and the following month Dahomey was admitted to the United Nations (UN).

C

Independence

The country’s political history since independence has been checkered. The first president, Hubert Maga, was ousted in 1963 by the army commander, and a series of four coups followed in the next six years. In 1970 a three-member presidential commission took power and suspended the constitution. The members, including former president Maga, were to serve as president successively. Maga held office first, succeeded in 1972 by Justin Ahomadegbe.

Later in 1972 army major Mathieu Kérékou led a military coup, ending the commission form of government. He established a military government with himself as president. In 1974 Kérékou proclaimed his commitment to introducing revolutionary socialism and establishing what he called a Marxist-Leninist state. Many banks, industries, and other enterprises were soon nationalized. Ties with Communist countries, notably China, were greatly expanded. In November 1975 the country’s name was changed from Dahomey to Benin. A new constitution, making the People’s Revolutionary Party of Benin the sole political party, was promulgated in 1977. Three former presidents, detained since the coup of 1972, were released in 1981.

Elected president by the National Revolutionary Assembly in 1980 and reelected in 1984, Kérékou survived a military coup attempt four years later. Faced with economic problems and internal dissent, he abandoned Marxism-Leninism as the official ideology in late 1989. A new constitution, adopted in 1990, paved the way for the establishment of a multiparty democracy in Benin. The next year, in the country’s first free elections in 30 years, Kérékou was defeated by Prime Minister Nicéphore Soglo. Soglo attacked Benin’s struggling economy by instituting austerity measures and promoting free-market economics. Relations with Western countries also improved. While the nation’s economy improved slowly, Soglo’s personal popularity sagged. In March 1996 elections Soglo was defeated by Kérékou.

Kérékou, who renounced his autocratic, Marxist-Leninist past, further liberalized Benin’s economy and secured economic assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN). He was reelected in March 2001. Legislative elections in 2003 gave Kérékou a clear majority in the National Assembly.

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