Mathieu Kérékou 392304 223755396 2008-07-05T17:07:59Z 87.101.56.185 /* References */ {{Infobox President | name = Mathieu Kérékou | image = Mathieu Kérékou 2006Feb10.JPG | caption = | order = [[President of Benin|President of the People's Republic of Benin]] | vicepresident = | term_start = [[October 26]], [[1972]] | term_end = [[April 4]], [[1991]] | predecessor = [[Justin Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin]] | successor = [[Nicéphore Soglo]] | order2 = [[President of Benin]] | term_start2 = [[April 4]], [[1996]] | term_end2 = [[April 6]], [[2006]] | predecessor2 = [[Nicéphore Soglo]] | successor2 = [[Yayi Boni]] | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1933|09|02|mf=y}} | birth_place = [[Kouarfa]], [[French Dahomey|Dahomey]] | spouse = | party = [[People's Revolutionary Party of Benin|PRPB]] (1975 - 1990) | religion = [[Evangelicalism|Evangelical Christian]] }} '''Mathieu Kérékou''', also known as '''Ahmed Kérékou''', (born [[2 September]] [[1933]]<ref name="Pouvoir">[http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=69248 "Après 29 ans de pouvoir, le Président Kérékou tire sa révérence"], IRIN, April 6, 2006.</ref>) was [[List of Presidents of Benin|President]] of [[Benin]] from 1972 to 1991 and again from 1996 to 2006. After seizing power in a military coup, he ruled the country for 17 years, for most of that time under an officially Marxist ideology, before he was stripped of his powers by the National Conference of 1990. He was defeated in the 1991 presidential election, but was returned to the presidency in the 1996 election and controversially re-elected in 2001. Kérékou converted to [[Islam]] in 1980. Kérékou later rejected Islam and is now an [[Evangelicalism|Evangelical Christian]]. ==Military background== Kérékou was born in 1933 in Kouarfa, in the north-west of the country. After having studied at military schools in [[Mali]] and [[Senegal]],<ref name="Pouvoir"/> Kérékou served in the military. Following independence, from [[1961]] to [[1963]] he was an [[aide-de-camp]] to President [[Hubert Maga]];<ref name=Profiles>''Profiles of People in Power: The World's Government Leaders'' (2003), page 55.</ref> following [[Maurice Kouandété]]'s seizure of power in December 1967, Kérékou, who was his cousin,<ref name=Profiles/><ref name=Amuwo>'Kunle Amuwo, "The State and the Politics of Democratic Consolidation in Benin, 1990&ndash;1999", in ''Political Liberalization and Democratization in Africa'' (2003), ed. Ihonvbere and Mbaku.</ref> was made chairman of the Military Revolutionary Council.<ref name=Profiles/> After Kérékou attended French military schools from 1968 to 1970,<ref name=Profiles/> Maga made him a [[major]], deputy chief of staff, and commander of the Ouidah paratroop unit.<ref name=Profiles/><ref name=Amuwo/> ==Military dictator== Kérékou seized power in Benin in a military coup on [[26 October]] [[1972]],<ref name="Pouvoir"/> ending a system of government in which three members of a presidential council were to rotate power (earlier in the year Maga had handed over power to [[Justin Ahomadegbé]]).<ref name="Decalo">Samuel Decalo, "Benin: First of the New Democracies", in ''Political Reform in Francophone Africa'' (1997), ed. Clark and Gardinier.</ref> 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 [[November 30]], [[1974]], however, he announced the adoption of [[Marxism-Leninism]] by the state.<ref>Victor T. Le Vine, ''Politics in Francophone Africa'' (2004), page 145.</ref> The country was renamed from [[Republic of Dahomey|Dahomey]] to [[People's Republic of Benin]] a year later, and the banks and [[petroleum industry]] were nationalized. The [[People's Revolutionary Party of Benin]] (''Parti de la révolution populaire du Bénin'', PRPB) was established as the sole ruling party. In [[1980]], Kérékou was elected president by the Revolutionary National Assembly; he retired from the army in [[1987]].<ref name="Onadipe">Abiodun Onadipe, [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2242/is_n1567_v269/ai_18801059 "The return of Africa's old guard - former African leaders, mostly dictators, bid for a return to power"], ''Contemporary Review'', August 1996.</ref> 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.<ref name="Decalo"/> By officially adopting Marxism-Leninism, Kérékou may also have wanted to win the support of the country's leftists.<ref name="Allen">Chris Allen, "'Goodbye to All That': The Short and Sad Story of Socialism in Benin", in ''Marxism's Retreat from Africa'', ed. Arnold Hughes.</ref> Kérékou survived numerous attempts to oust him, including an attack by mercenaries at the airport in [[Cotonou]] in January [[1977]] as well as two coup attempts in [[1988]]. It was hoped that the nationalizations of the 1970s would help develop the economy, but it remained in a very poor condition, with the state sector being plagued by inefficiency and corruption. Kérékou began reversing course in the early 1980s, closing down numerous state-run companies and attempting to attract foreign investment.<ref name="Decalo"/> He also accepted an [[International Monetary Fund|IMF]] structural readjustment programme in 1989, agreeing to austerity measures that severely cut state expenditure.<ref name="Decalo"/><ref name="Allen"/> 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.<ref name="Allen"/> ==Transition to democracy== 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.<ref name="Decalo"/> In the midst of increasing unrest, Kérékou was re-elected as president by the National Assembly in August 1989,<ref name="Onadipe"/> but in December 1989 Marxism-Leninism was dropped as the state ideology,<ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE7DC163DF93AA35751C1A96F948260&n=Top%2fNews%2fWorld%2fCountries%20and%20Territories%2fBenin "Upheaval in the East; Benin, Too, Gives Up Marxism for Reforms"], Reuters (''The New York Times''), December 9, 1989.</ref> 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,<ref name="Decalo"/> 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.<ref name="Allen"/><ref>Lisa Beyer, [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,970130,00.html "Africa Continental Shift"], ''TIME'', May 21, 1990.</ref> [[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;<ref name="Elections">[http://africanelections.tripod.com/bj.html Elections in Benin], African Elections Database.</ref> while he won very large vote percentages in the north, in the rest of the country he found little support.<ref name="Decalo"/> Kérékou was thus the first mainland African president to lose power through a popular election.<ref name="Decalo"/><ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEED7173EF935A15750C0A967958260&n=Top%2fNews%2fWorld%2fCountries%20and%20Territories%2fBenin "Official Result in Benin Vote Shows Big Loss for Kerekou"], Associated Press (''The New York Times''), March 26, 1991.</ref> He apologized for "deplorable and regrettable incidents" that occurred during his rule.<ref name=Onadipe/> ==Election as President, 1996== Kérékou reclaimed the presidency in the March 1996 election. Soglo's economic reforms and his alleged dictatorial tendencies had caused his popularity to suffer.<ref name="Onadipe"/> 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.<ref name="Elections"/><ref name=Amuwo/> Kérékou was backed in the second round by third place candidate [[Adrien Houngbédji]] and fourth place candidate [[Bruno Amoussou]];<ref name=Amuwo/> as in 1991, Kérékou received very strong support from northern voters,<ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C01EEDD1F39F935A35750C0A960958260 "World News Briefs; Benin Presidential Vote Heads for a Runoff"], ''The New York Times'', March 6, 1996.</ref> but he also improved his performance in the south.<ref name=Amuwo/> Soglo alleged fraud, but this was rejected by the Constitutional Court, which confirmed Kérékou's victory.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9113740 Benin, Year in Review: 1996], Britannica.com.</ref> When taking the oath of office, Kérékou left out a portion that referred to the "spirits of the ancestors" due to his Christian beliefs. He was subsequently forced to retake the oath including the reference to spirits.<ref>Yale Richmond, Phyllis Gestrin, ''Into Africa: Intercultural Insights'' (1998), page 36.</ref> ==Disputed re-election, 2001== Kérékou was re-elected for a second five-year term in the [[Benin presidential election, 2001|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.<ref name="Elections"/><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1263931.stm "Benin 'day of mourning'"], BBC News, April 6, 2001.</ref> It was subsequently discovered that the American corporation [[Titan Corporation|Titan]] gave more than two million dollars to Kérékou's re-election campaign as a bribe.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4310331.stm "US company admits Benin bribery"], BBC News, March 2, 2005.</ref> 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. The constitution of Benin prohibited Kérékou from running again in March 2006, since he was older than 70 years, the limit, and the constitution also would not allow him to run for a third term. Kérékou said in July 2005 that he did not want the constitution to be changed;<ref>[http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=55408 "Kerekou says will retire next year, will not change constitution to stay in power"], IRIN, July 12, 2005.</ref> there was, however, speculation that he had wanted it to be changed, but faced too much opposition.<ref>Ali Idrissou-Toure, [http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=1723 "Africa's big men cling to power"], Spero News, July 18, 2005.</ref> On [[5 March]] [[2006]], [[Benin presidential election, 2006|voters went to the polls]] to decide who would succeed Kérékou as President of Benin. [[Yayi Boni]] defeated Adrien Houngbédji in a run-off vote on [[19 March]],<ref name="Elections"/> and Kérékou left office at the end of his term, at midnight on [[6 April]] 2006. Kérékou's motto was "the branch will not break in the arms of the chameleon".<ref name="Pouvoir"/> ==Religion== Kérékou comes from an area where [[Vodou]] is dominant but may have been atheist especially while linked to [[marxism]]. He converted to [[Islam]] on [[28 September]] [[1980]] while on a visit to [[Libya]] and changed his first name to Ahmed,<ref>[http://www.rulers.org/indexk2.html#kerek Rulers.org biographical entry for Kérékou].</ref> but he later started to use the name Mathieu again. He subsequently became a [[born-again Christian]].<ref>{{cite news | last =Okanla | first =Karim | title =Benin's 'magical' leader | publisher = [[BBC news]] | date = Wednesday, 20 August, 2003| url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3166593.stm }}<br />Samuel Decalo. African Personal Dictatorships. The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Jun., 1985), pp. 209-237. <br /> ''1980. In that year, in the course of an official visit to Libya, he converted to the Islamic faith in the presence of the Libyan leader, Col. Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi, and accordingly took the first name Ahmed. During the visit the two countries signed a major bilateral cooperation agreement.''<br /> Camilla Strandsbjerg. KÉRÉKOU, GOD AND THE ANCESTORS: RELIGION AND THE CONCEPTION OF POLITICAL POWER IN BENIN. African Affairs 99:395-414 (2000). <br /> Richard Cornwell. Benin: Under new management. African Security Review 15 NO 1 2006. <br />''Kérékou who, having shed his unconvincing Marxist mantle, had flirted briefly with Islam before embracing evangelical Christianity – hence his proudly adopted nickname ‘The Chameleon’.''</ref> ==References== {{reflist|2}} {{BeninPresidents}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Kerekou, Mathieu}} [[Category:1933 births|Kerekou, Mathieu]] [[Category:Beninese politicians|Kerekou]] [[Category:Converts to Christianity|Kerekou, Mathieu]] [[Category:Former Muslims|Kerekou, Mathieu]] [[Category:Living people|Kerekou, Mathieu]] [[Category:French West Africa|Kerekou, Mathieu]] [[Category:Leaders who took power by coup|Kerekou, Mathieu]] [[Category:Cold War leaders|Kerekou, Mathieu]] [[Category:Communist rulers|Kerekou, Mathieu]] [[Category:Beninese Evangelicals]] [[af:Ahmed Kérékou]] [[br:Mathieu Kérékou]] [[cs:Mathieu Kérékou]] [[de:Mathieu Kérékou]] [[el:Ματιέ Κερέκου]] [[et:Mathieu Kérékou]] [[fr:Mathieu Kérékou]] [[gl:Mathieu Kérékou]] [[hr:Mathieu Kérékou]] [[io:Mathieu Kérékou]] [[id:Mathieu Kérékou]] [[it:Mathieu Kérékou]] [[nl:Mathieu Kérékou]] [[ja:マチュー・ケレク]] [[nn:Mathieu Kérékou]] [[oc:Mathieu Kérékou]] [[pl:Mathieu Kérékou]] [[pt:Mathieu Kérékou]] [[fi:Mathieu Kérékou]] [[sv:Mathieu Kérékou]] [[zh:马蒂厄·克雷库]]