1972 Dahomeyan coup d'état

Military overthrow of the Presidential Council by Mathieu Kérékou March 2024 1972 Dahomeyan coup d'état the Cold War File:Location Benin AU Africa.svg 26 October 1972 Porto-Novo, Republic of Dahomey 6 29 50 N 2 36 18 E region:BJ inline,title Benin yes 200px Green pog.svg 10 Nexus of coup in Porto-Novo (marked green), Republic of Dahomey Coup attempt successful with minimum disruption Presidential Council removed from power Major Mathieu Kérékou assumes control, reorganizes the government and renames the country the People's Republic of Benin Dahomey Government of the Republic of Dahomey Presidential Council Dahomey Army faction Ouidah garrison Hubert MagaJustin Ahomadégbé-TomêtinSourou-Migan Apithy Mathieu KérékouJanvier AssogbaMichel AïkpéMichel Alladayè No casualties reported. The 1972 Dahomeyan coup d'état was a military coup staged on 26 October 1972 by Major (later General) Mathieu Kérékou, who took control of the Republic of Dahomey"Après 29 ans de pouvoir, le Président Kérékou tire sa révérence", IRIN, 6 April 2006 fr. and ended a system of government established following the annulled 1970 presidential election, in which three members of the Presidential Council (Hubert Maga, Justin Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin and Sourou-Migan Apithy) were to rotate in power. Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin served as the Chairman at the time of the coup.Samuel Decalo, "Benin: First of the New Democracies", in Political Reform in Francophone Africa (1997), ed. Clark and Gardinier. 978-0813327860. The coup The coup was launched by soldiers of the Ouidah garrisonhttps://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1972/10/28/80803179.pdf Eleven-Officer Rule in Dahomey Is Set Up Following Army Coup Johnson Thomas A. 28 October 1972 The New York Times 3 2008-12-14 . and occurred during a Presidential Council meeting between Maga and Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin.Apithy was in Paris on a political trip.https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/99629312.html?dids=99629312:99629312&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=OCT+27%2C+1972&author=&pub=The+Washington+Post&desc=Army+Takes+Power+in+Dahomey+Coup&pqatl=google https://web.archive.org/web/20110525125030/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/99629312.html?dids=99629312:99629312&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=OCT+27,+1972&author=&pub=The+Washington+Post&desc=Army+Takes+Power+in+Dahomey+Coup&pqatl=google dead 25 May 2011 Army Takes Power in Dahomey Coup 27 October 1972 The Washington Post A22 2008-12-24. According to reports at the scene, soldiers abruptly arrived in the Cabinet room of the Presidential Palace in the capital Porto-Novo and started firing bullets, but no one was injured.Decalo 1973 476. Kérékou led the first armed company of soldiers to break into the meeting, where he declared the end of the Presidential Council.Ronen 1975 217Decalo 1973 476 Kérékou announced the coup on national radio (which later become ORTB) by saying that the "three headed figure [was] truly a monster" beset by "congenital deficiency...notorious inefficiency and...unpardonable incompetence."Decalo 1973 476 Similarly to the 1963 coup d'état led by Christophe Soglo, the coup was viewed favorably by much of the population of the country.Houngnikpo 2001 181-182 Kerekou named himself the new head of state, appointing military officers to the various ministerial posts. Aftermath The members of the Presidential Council and other prominent political figures were arrested and imprisoned or placed under house arrest until 1981.Lea 2001 After they were released from house arrest in 1981, Maga, Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin, and Apithy all moved to Paris.Le Vine 1997 190 Ideological changes Kérékou proclaimed the formal accession of his government to Marxism–Leninism on 30 November 1974, in a speech before an assembly of stunned notables in the city of Abomey.Philippe David, The Benin, Karthala, 1998, page 60 He soon aligned Dahomey with the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc.Auzias Dominique, Jean-Paul Labourdette, Sandra Fontaine,Benin Smart Little Country Guide, page 34 Finally, Kérékou declared the end of the Republic of Dahomey and the establishment of the People's Republic of Benin on 30 November 1975, named after the Kingdom of Benin that had once flourished in the south-central part of neighboring Nigeria.Dickovick J. Tyler 2014 Africa https://archive.org/details/africa0000dick registration Stryker-Post 70 9781475812374 The People's Revolutionary Party of Benin (PRPB), designed as a vanguard party, was created on the same day as the country's only legal party. Notes References 2 Bibliography Decalo Samuel April 1973 Regionalism, Politics, and the Military in Dahomey The Journal of Developing Areas College of Business, Tennessee State University 7 3 449–478 4190033. Ronen Dov Dahomey: Between Tradition and Modernity 1975 Cornell University Press Ithaca Houngnikpo Mathurin C. Determinants of democratization in Africa: a comparative study of Benin and Togo 2001 University Press of America Lea Chris Political Chronology of Africa https://books.google.com/books?id=0O86sZdHfHUC&pg=PT40 2001 Routledge 978-1-135-35666-8 40 Le Vine Victor T. The Fall and Rise of Constitutionalism in West Africa Journal of Modern African Studies 35 2 1997 181–206 10.1017/s0022278x97002395 153723378 Category:Coups d'état in Benin Dahomey coup Coup Category:October 1972 in Africa Category:1970s coups d'état