Benin

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Formerly known as the Republic of Dahomey, the West African Republic of Benin is one of the smallest and most densely populated states in the region. It has a land area of 112,622 square kilometers (43,475 square miles), a section of which is perpendicular to the Gulf of Guinea in the south. To the north of Benin lies Burkina Faso and Republic of Niger, to the east is the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and to the west is the Republic of Togo. The capital and seat of government is Porto Novo.

Although Benin comprises forty-two ethnic groups, its population—estimated at just over 7 million in 2004—is divided between four main ethno-linguistic groups: the Fon speakers, who live in the south and are the country's largest single ethnic group; the Yorubas, who live in the southeast near Nigeria, the group's main homeland; the Volta speakers, who inhabit central and northern Benin; and the Fulani, who live in the north. French is the official language.

Benin was once the center of the ancient and powerful West African kingdom of Dahomey, the name by which the country was known until it was changed in 1975. Benin became a French colony in 1872, finally gaining its political independence from France on August 1, 1960.

Since 1991 Benin has been a multiparty democracy, adopting the presidential-parliamentary system of government. The government consists of a president and eighty-six-member unicameral legislature, the National Assembly. The president serves a five-year term, and national assembly members serve four-year terms. Both are elected by popular vote. A judicial system, headed by a Constitutional Court (Cour Constitutionnelle) with the authority to exercise final jurisdiction over constitutional cases, completes the separation of powers. The judiciary is subject to political influence, but it has shown a surprising degree of independence in many controversial cases. Administratively, the country is divided into six provinces.

Benin's democratic government is the latest in the country's arduous search for a workable political system since independence. After independence, the country witnessed a succession of military governments that ended in 1972 with the rise to power of Mathieu Kérékou (b. 1933) and the establishment of a one-party state based on Marxist-Leninist principles.

Economic hardships and increasing internal strife forced Kérékou to agree to a national conference in 1989 in preparation for the country's return to democratic rule. Two years later, free elections ushered in former Prime Minister Nicéphore Soglo (b. 1935) as president, marking the first successful transfer of power in Africa from a dictatorship to a democracy. Kérékou returned to power following the 1996 elections and was reelected in 2001, making Benin one of the few African states that have achieved a successful transfer of power through the ballot box.

Charges of political intimidation and fraud were frequent in the national elections of 1996 and 2001, and unrest has occurred among some of the armed forces. However, political dissent has been tolerated much more in Benin than in many African countries. Freedom House has rated Benin as free since 1991, making the country one of the five nations in West Africa that have earned the best scores in political and civil freedoms.

Parliamentary Systems; Presidential Systems.

"Benin." In CIA World Factbook. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency, 2005. <http://www.cia.gov/cia/publicat ions/factbook/geos/bn.html>.

Freedom House. "Benin." Freedom in the World 2004. New York: Freedom House, 2004. <http://www.freedomhouse.org/res earch/freeworld/2004/countryratings/ben in.htm>.

U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. "Benin." Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State, 2005. <http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/ hrrpt/2004/41588.htm>.

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