Mathieu Kérékou Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
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| Period in Office: | October 26, 1972-April 4, 1991; April 4, 1996- |
| Predecessor: | Justin Ahomadegbé (first time); Nicéphore Soglo (second time) |
| Successor: | Nicéphore Soglo (first time) |
| Date of Birth: | September 2, 1933 |
| Place of Birth: | |
(Ahmed) Mathieu Kérékou (born September 2, 1933) is the president of Benin.
After having studied at military schools in Mali and Senegal Kérékou served in the military, obtaining the grade of major. He seized power in a military coup on October 26, 1972 and made himself president. In November 1974 he nationalized the banks and the petroleum industry, and proclamed the country a Marxist-Leninist state. He also renamed the country from Dahomey to Benin on December 1, 1975. On September 28, 1980, Kérékou converted to Islam and changed his first name to Ahmed, but he later started to used the name Mathieu again.
The first African dictator to allow a democratization process in his country, his party, Popular Revolutionary Party of Benin (Parti du Revolutionare Popular du Benin, PRPB), denounced Marxism in 1990. Multi-party elections were allowed in 1991, which Kérékou lost, obtaining only 32 percent of the vote, less than half the share of former Prime Minister Nicéphore Soglo. In the 1996 elections Kérékou defeated Soglo in a run-off election and regained the precidency. He was re-elected for a second five-year term in March 2001.
During Kérékou's second time in office his government has followed a liberal economic path. The period has also seen Benin take part in international peacekeping missions in other African states. The constitution of Benin will prohibit Kérékou from running again in 2006 as he will be older than 70 years, the limit, and he has made it known he is not planning to change this.
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