The 1972 Dahomeyan coup d'état was a

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

coup staged on 26 October 1972 by Major (later General)

Mathieu Kérékou Mathieu Kérékou (; 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 Benin, Republic of Benin from 1996 to 2006. After seizing power in a milita ...

, who took control of the

Republic of Dahomey The Republic of Dahomey (; ), simply known as Dahomey (), was established on 4 December 1958, as a self-governing colony within the French Community. Prior to attaining autonomy, it had been French Dahomey, part of the French Union. On 1 Augu ...

"Après 29 ans de pouvoir, le Président Kérékou tire sa révérence"
IRIN, 6 April 2006 . and ended a system of government established following the annulled 1970 presidential election, in which three members of the Presidential Council (

Hubert Maga Hubert Coutoucou Maga (August 10, 1916 – May 8, 2000) was a politician from Dahomey (now known as Benin). Born a peasant in 1916, Maga served as a schoolmaster from 1936 to 1945, during which time he gradually gained considerable influence among ...

Justin Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin Justin Ahomadegbé-Tomêtin (January 16, 1917 – March 8, 2002) was a Beninese politician most active when his country was known as Dahomey. He arose on a political scene where one's power was dictated by what region of Dahomey one lived i ...

and

Sourou-Migan Apithy Sourou-Migan Marcellin Joseph Apithy (8 April 1913 – 3 December 1989) was a Beninese political figure most active when his country was known as Dahomey. He arose on a political scene where one's power was dictated by what region in Dahomey one ...

) 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. .

The coup

The coup was launched by soldiers of the

Ouidah Ouidah (English: ; French: ) or Whydah (; ''Ouidah'', ''Juida'', and ''Juda'' by the French; ''Ajudá'' by the Portuguese; and ''Fida'' by the Dutch), and known locally as Glexwe, formerly the chief port of the Kingdom of Whydah, is a city on t ...

garrison. and occurred during a Presidential Council meeting between Maga and Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin.Apithy was in Paris on a political trip. According to reports at the scene, soldiers abruptly arrived in the Cabinet room of the Presidential Palace in the capital

Porto-Novo , , ; ; ; also known as Hogbonu and Ajashe) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in Benin, second-largest city of Benin. The commune covers an area of and as of 2002 had a population of 223,552 people. In 1863, following Bri ...

and started firing bullets, but no one was injured.. Kérékou led the first armed company of soldiers to break into the meeting, where he declared the end of the Presidential Council. Kérékou announced the coup on national radio (which later become ORTB) by saying that the "three headed figure astruly a monster" beset by "congenital deficiency...notorious inefficiency and...unpardonable incompetence." Similarly to the 1963 coup d'état led by Christophe Soglo, the coup was viewed favorably by much of the population of the country. 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. After they were released from house arrest in 1981, Maga, Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin, and Apithy all moved to Paris.

Ideological changes

Kérékou proclaimed the formal accession of his government to

Marxism–Leninism Marxism–Leninism () is a communist ideology that became the largest faction of the History of communism, communist movement in the world in the years following the October Revolution. It was the predominant ideology of most communist gov ...

on 30 November 1974, in a speech before an assembly of stunned notables in the city of

Abomey Agbome or Abomey is the capital of the Zou Department of Benin. The commune of Abomey covers an area of 142 square kilometres and, as of 2012, had a population of 90,195 people. Abomey houses the Royal Palaces of Abomey, a collection of small tr ...

. He soon aligned Dahomey with the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and the

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

. Finally, Kérékou declared the end of the Republic of Dahomey and the establishment of the

People's Republic of Benin The People's Republic of Benin (; sometimes translated literally as the Benin Popular Republic or Popular Republic of Benin) was a socialist state located in the Gulf of Guinea on the African continent, which became present-day Benin in 1990 ...

on 30 November 1975, named after the

Kingdom of Benin The Kingdom of Benin, also known as Great Benin, is a traditional kingdom in southern Nigeria. It has no historical relation to the modern republic of Benin, which was known as Dahomey from the 17th century until 1975. The Kingdom of Benin's c ...

that had once flourished in the south-central part of neighboring

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. The

People's Revolutionary Party of Benin People's, branded as ''People's ViennaLine'' until May 2018, and legally ''Altenrhein Luftfahrt Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, GmbH'', is an Austria, Austro-Switzerland, Swiss airline headquartered in Vienna, Austria. It operates schedul ...

(PRPB), designed as a

vanguard party Vanguardism, a core concept of Leninism, is the idea that a revolutionary vanguard party, composed of the most conscious and disciplined workers, must lead the proletariat in overthrowing capitalism and establishing socialism, ultimately progres ...

, was created on the same day as the country's only legal party.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* . * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:1972 Dahomeyan coup d'etat Military coups in Benin Dahomey coup Coup October 1972 in Africa 1970s coups d'état and coup attempts