Mathieu Kérékou
Mathieu Kérékou | |
---|---|
President of Benin | |
In office 4 April 1996 – 6 April 2006 | |
Prime Minister | Adrien Houngbédji |
Preceded by | Nicéphore Soglo |
Succeeded by | Thomas Boni Yayi |
In office 26 October 1972 – 4 April 1991 | |
Prime Minister | Nicéphore Soglo |
Preceded by | Justin Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin |
Succeeded by | Nicéphore Soglo |
Personal details | |
Born | Kouarfa, French Dahomey | 2 September 1933
Died | 14 October 2015 Cotonou, Benin | (aged 82)
Political party | Action Front for Renewal and Development |
Other political affiliations | People's Revolutionary Party of Benin (1975–1990) |
Spouse(s) | Symphorose Béatrice Lakoussan (divorced) Marguerite Kérékou |
Signature | |
Mathieu Kérékou (French pronunciation: [ma.tjø ke.ʁe.ku]; 2 September 1933 – 14 October 2015) was a Beninese politician who served as president of the People's Republic of Benin from 1972 to 1991 and the Republic of Benin from 1996 to 2006.
After seizing power in a military coup, he ruled the country for 19 years, for most of that time under an officially
Military background
Kérékou was born in 1933 in Kouarfa village,[1] in north-west French Dahomey. After having studied at military schools in modern-day Mali and Senegal,[1] Kérékou served in the military by joining the French Army in 1960.[2] Following independence, from 1961 to 1963 he was an aide-de-camp to Dahomeyan President Hubert Maga.[3] Following Maurice Kouandété's coup d'état in December 1967, Kérékou, who was his cousin,[3][4] was made chairman of the Military Revolutionary Council.[3] After Kérékou attended French military schools from 1968 to 1970,[3] Maga made him a major, deputy chief of staff, and commander of the Ouidah paratroop unit.[3][4]
1972 coup and Marxist rule
Kérékou seized power in
During his first two years in power, Kérékou expressed only nationalism and said that the country's revolution would not "burden itself by copying foreign ideology ... We do not want communism or capitalism or socialism. We have our own Dahomean social and cultural system." On 30 November 1974, however, he announced the adoption of
It has been suggested that Kérékou's move to Marxism-Leninism was motivated mainly by pragmatic considerations, and that Kérékou himself was not actually a leftist radical; the new ideology offered a means of legitimization, a way of distinguishing the new regime from those that had preceded it, and was based on broader unifying principles than the politics of ethnicity. Kérékou's regime initially included officers from both the north and south of the country, but as the years passed the northerners (like Kérékou himself) became clearly dominant, undermining the idea that the regime was not based in ethnicity.[5] By officially adopting Marxism-Leninism, Kérékou may also have wanted to win the support of the country's leftists.[8]
Kérékou's regime was rigid and vigorous in pursuing its newly adopted ideological goals from the mid-1970s to the late 1970s. In 1974, under the influence of young revolutionaries - the "Ligueurs" - the government embarked on a socialist program: nationalization of strategic sectors of the economy, reform of the education system, establishment of agricultural cooperatives and new local government structures, and a campaign to eradicate "
It was hoped that the nationalizations of the 1970s would help develop the economy, but it remained in a very poor condition. Kérékou began reversing course in the early 1980s, closing down numerous state-run companies and attempting to attract foreign investment.[5] He also accepted an IMF structural readjustment programme in 1989, agreeing to austerity measures that severely cut state expenditure.[5][8] The economic situation continued to worsen during the 1980s, provoking widespread unrest in 1989. A student strike began in January of that year; subsequently strikes among various elements of society increased in frequency and the nature of their demands grew broader: whereas initially they had focused on economic issues such as salary arrears, this progressed to include demands for political reform.[8]
Transition to capitalism
In the period of reforms towards multiparty democracy in Africa at the beginning of the 1990s, Benin moved onto this path early, with Kérékou being forced to make concessions to popular discontent. Benin's early and relatively smooth transition may be attributed to the particularly dismal economic situation in the country, which seemed to preclude any alternative.[5] In the midst of increasing unrest, Kérékou was re-elected as president by the National Assembly in August 1989,[7] but in December 1989 Marxism-Leninism was dropped as the state ideology,[12] and a national conference was held in February 1990. The conference turned out to be hostile to Kérékou and declared its own sovereignty; despite the objections of some of his officers to this turn of events, Kérékou did not act against the conference,[5] although he labelled the conference's declaration of sovereignty a "civilian coup". During the transition that followed, Kérékou remained president but lost most of his power.[8][13]
During the 1990 National Conference, which was nationally televised, Kérékou spoke to the
World Bank economist Nicéphore Soglo, chosen as prime minister by the conference, took office in March, and a new constitution was approved in a December 1990 referendum. Multi-party elections were held in March 1991, which Kérékou lost, obtaining only about 32% of the vote in the second round against Prime Minister Soglo;[14] while he won very large vote percentages in the north, in the rest of the country he found little support.[5] Kérékou was thus the first mainland African president to lose power through a popular election.[5][15] He apologized for "deplorable and regrettable incidents" that occurred during his rule.[7]
After losing the election in March 1991, Kérékou left the political scene and "withdrew to total silence", another move that was interpreted as penitential.[9]
1996 presidential election
Kérékou reclaimed the presidency in the March 1996 election. Soglo's economic reforms and his alleged dictatorial tendencies had caused his popularity to suffer.[7] Although Kérékou received fewer votes than Soglo in the first round, he then defeated Soglo in the second round, taking 52.5% of the vote.[4][14] Kérékou was backed in the second round by third place candidate Adrien Houngbédji and fourth place candidate Bruno Amoussou;[4] as in 1991, Kérékou received very strong support from northern voters,[16] but he also improved his performance in the south.[4] Soglo alleged fraud, but this was rejected by the Constitutional Court, which confirmed Kérékou's victory.[17] When taking the oath of office, Kérékou left out a portion that referred to the "spirits of the ancestors" because he had become a born-again Christian after his defeat by Soglo. He was subsequently forced to retake the oath including the reference to spirits.[18]
Disputed re-election, 2001
Kérékou was re-elected for a second five-year term in the March 2001 presidential election under controversial circumstances. In the first round he took 45.4% of the vote; Soglo, who took second place, and parliament speaker Houngbédji, who took third, both refused to participate in the second round, alleging fraud and saying that they did not want to legitimize the vote by participating in it. This left the fourth-place finisher, Amoussou, to face Kérékou in the run-off, and Kérékou easily won with 83.6% of the vote.[14][19] It was subsequently discovered that the American corporation Titan gave more than two million dollars to Kérékou's re-election campaign as a bribe.[20]
During Kérékou's second period in office his government followed a liberal economic path. The period also saw Benin take part in international peacekeeping missions in other African states.[21]
Kérékou was barred from running again in 2006 on two counts. The constitution not only stipulated an absolute two-term limit, but also required that presidential candidates be younger than 70; he turned 70 in 2003, during his second term. Kérékou said in July 2005 that he would not attempt to amend the constitution to allow him to run for a third term. "If you don't leave power," he said, "power will leave you."[22] There was, however, speculation that he had wanted it to be changed, but faced too much opposition.[23]
On 5 March 2006,
Religion and symbolism
Born and baptized in the
Nicknamed "the chameleon" from an early point in his career,[29] Kérékou's motto was "the branch will not break in the arms of the chameleon".[1][9] The nickname and motto he adopted were full of cultural symbolism, articulating and projecting his power and ability. Unlike some past rulers who had adopted animal symbolism intending to project a violent, warlike sense of power, Kérékou's symbolic animal suggested skill and cleverness; his motto suggested that he would keep the branch from breaking, but implicitly warned of what could happen to "the branch" if it was not "in the arms of the chameleon"—political chaos.[9] To some, his nickname seemed particularly apt as he successfully adapted himself to a new political climate and neoliberal economic policies in the 1990s.[29]
He used the campaign slogan, "Experience in the service of youth."[30]
Retirement and death
After leaving office in 2006, Kérékou stayed out of politics and spent time at his homes in Cotonou and Natitingou in northwestern Benin, his native region. He suffered a health crisis in 2014 and was taken to Paris for treatment. Although he recovered, he continued to suffer health problems, and he died in Benin on 14 October 2015 at the age of 82.[31] His death was announced in a statement by President Thomas Boni Yayi. No cause of death was stated.[32] A week of national mourning was declared.[31]
References
- ^ a b c d "Après 29 ans de pouvoir, le Président Kérékou tire sa révérence", IRIN, 6 April 2006 (in French).
- ISBN 978-1-134-26490-2.
- ^ ISBN 9781857431261.
- ^ ISBN 978-0275975067.
- ^ ISBN 978-0813327860.
- ISBN 9781588262493.
- ^ a b c d Abiodun Onadipe, "The return of Africa's old guard – former African leaders, mostly dictators, bid for a return to power", Contemporary Review, August 1996.
- ^ ISBN 9780714645025.
- ^ ISBN 9781845113674.
- ISBN 9781579582456.
- ^ "Benin profile – Timeline". BBC News. 4 June 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
- ^ "Upheaval in the east; Benin, too, gives up Marxism for reforms", Reuters, 9 December 1989.
- ^ Lisa Beyer, "Africa Continental Shift", Time, 21 May 1990.
- ^ a b c d Elections in Benin, African Elections Database.
- ^ "Official result in Benin vote shows big loss for Kerekou", Associated Press, 26 March 1991.
- ^ "World News Briefs; Benin Presidential Vote Heads for a Runoff", The New York Times, 6 March 1996.
- ^ Benin, Year in Review: 1996, Encyclopædia Britannica.
- ISBN 978-1877864575.
- ^ "Benin 'day of mourning'", BBC News, 6 April 2001.
- ^ "US company admits Benin bribery", BBC News, 2 March 2005.
- ^ a b "BENIN: President Mathieu Kerekou leaves after 29 years". IRIN. 7 April 2006. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
- ^ "Kerekou says will retire next year, will not change constitution to stay in power", IRIN, 12 July 2005.
- ^ Ali Idrissou-Toure, "Africa's big men cling to power" Archived 25 March 2006 at the Wayback Machine, Spero News, 18 July 2005.
- ^ Rulers.org biographical entry for Kérékou.
- ISBN 9780595189823.
- ISBN 978-0275976064.
- ^ a b Okanla, Karim (20 August 2003). "Benin's 'magical' leader". BBC News.
- S2CID 154412217.
- ^ a b "The 'Chameleon's triumphal return". African Business. 1 April 2002. Archived from the original on 19 January 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2015 – via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
- ^ "Kerekou – L'experience au service de la jeunesse". Library of Congress Africa Pamphlet Collection – Flickr. 2 May 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
- ^ a b Tirthankar Chanda, "Les «Caméléons» meurent aussi: Mathieu Kérékou s’en est allé", Radio France Internationale, 14 October 2015 (in French).
- ^ "Benin's former president Mathieu Kerekou dies at 82", Agence France-Presse, 14 October 2015.
Further reading
- Allen, D., Allen, C., Radu, M., Somerville, K., Allan, G., & Baxter, J. Benin (Burns & Oates, 1989).
- Fredriksen, John C. ed. Biographical Dictionary of Modern World Leaders (2003) pp 252–253.
- Strandsbjerg, Camilla. "Continuity and Rupture in Conceptions of Political Power in Benin, 1972-2001." Cahiers detudes africaines 1 (2005): 71-94.
- Strandsbjerg, Camilla. "Kerekou, God and the ancestors: religion and the conception of political power in Benin." African Affairs 99.396 (2000): 395-414.