Ségbana is a town,

arrondissement An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, and certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissem ...

and commune located in the

Alibori Department Alibori is the largest and northernmost department (French: ''département'') of Benin. Externally the department borders the countries of Burkina Faso, Niger, and Nigeria, and internally the departments of Atakora and Borgou. The department ...

Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...

. The commune covers an area of 4471 square kilometres and as of 2013 had a population of 89,268 people.

Geography

The commune of Ségbana is located 722 kilometres from

Cotonou Cotonou (; ) is the largest city in Benin. Its official population count was 679,012 inhabitants in 2012; however, over two million people live in the larger urban area. The urban area continues to expand, notably toward the west. The city lies ...

and lies on the

Niger River The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through Mali, Nige ...

. Communally it is bounded to the north by Malanville, south by Kalalé, west by Kandi and Gogounou and east by

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, ...

History

With the Séro Kpéra camp in

Parakou Parakou is the largest city in northern Benin, and the third-largest city in the country, with an estimated population of around 206,667 people, and capital of the Borgou Department. Administratively the commune of Parakou makes up one of Benin ...

, the civil prison of Ségbana was, during the 1980s under the regime of President

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 ...

, a prison establishment specially assigned to the detention of political prisoners, sometimes presented as a place of torture, but this point is not confirmed by the filmed testimonies of former prisoners. According to them, the tortures were rather practiced in the Parakou camp.''Prison de Ségbana. Memory of an obscure past''
film by Félicien M. Assogba, Synergie Médias & Services, March 2016

Administrative divisions

Ségbana is subdivided into 5 arrondissements; Ségbana,

Libantè Libantè is a town and arrondissement in the Alibori Department of northeastern Benin. It is an administrative division under the jurisdiction of the commune of Ségbana. According to the population census conducted by the Institut National de la ...

, Liboussou, Lougou and Sokotindji. They contain 25 villages and 5 urban districts.

Economy

Most of the population are engaged in agricultural activities followed by trade, transportation and handicrafts. The main crops grown are

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

sorghum ''Sorghum bicolor'', commonly called sorghum () and also known as great millet, broomcorn, guinea corn, durra, imphee, jowar, or milo, is a species in the Poaceae, grass genus ''Sorghum (genus), Sorghum'' cultivated for its grain. The grain i ...

, and yams.

References

Arrondissements of Benin Communes of Benin Populated places in the Alibori Department {{AliboriDepartment-geo-stub