The Republic of Benin
Capital: Porto-Novo ("Newport" - Portuguese)
Pop.: 8.1 million (2007 CIA est.)
Area: 43,484 sq. mi. (slightly smaller than Pennsylvania)
Languages: French (official), Fon, Ge, Bariba, Yoruba, Dendi
Points of interest:
First country in Africa to successfully transfer power from a dictatorship to a democracy
Part of the Slave Coast, influence still present (e.g. Annual Voodoo Day)
One of Africa's largest cotton producers
Recurring border disputes with Burkina Faso
Welcomed and supported thousands of Togolese refugees in 2005
Spotlight: Mathieu Kérékou
Born in 1933, Kérékou's early adulthood was spent abroad. Educated in Mali and Senegal, he served in the French Army until appointment as an officer in the Benin (then Dahomey) army in 1961. In 1972, Kérékou, by then a major in the army, led a coup and after three years of heading a military dictatorship, in 1975 he changed the country's name to Benin and declared it to be a Marxist-Leninist state. Some speculate that his motivation in doing so was pragmatic rather than ideological, as declaring Marxism-Leninism as the country's political model gave his government greater legitimacy and attracted the support of the country's leftists.
In the late 1980s, with the economy in dire straights, Kérékou declared the end of Marxism-Leninism in Benin, and in 1990 convened a national conference to implement a democratic system. The conference, hostile to Kérékou, declared its own sovereignty and chose economist Nicéphore Soglo as Prime Minister. Kérékou declined to move against the conference and remained president, though with little power, until 1991 when he lost the presidential election to Prime Minister Soglo. Kérékou stepped down, the first African president ever to give up power as the result of a popular election.
Despite the contrast of his strikingly successful economic reforms to the failure of Kérékou's earlier policies, Soglo was not a popular leader, being seen as autocratic and divisive. In 1996, Kérékou was elected to the presidency, where he remained until 2006, when constitutional limitations prevented him from running for office again. His most recent regime followed a successful liberal economic path, and under his leadership Benin began participating in international peacekeeping missions in other African countries.In unrelated news, I was irritated and disheartened to discover that the recording of the Hogfather I made was actually only of the second part, despite the fact that nowhere in the description did it mention "Part 2" or anything similar. So I will have to wait until the 23rd, when the channel is showing the whole thing in one go.I am staying at work very late today. My buddies at Trees Atlanta are doing karaoke at a bar in East Atlanta tonight, and considering where I live it makes much more sense to hang out at work until I go there. I'm glad to get to go, but very bummed that this is the last time I'll see these folks, or at least nearly the last - I'll likely come back to visit before I leave the country. I really wish I had gotten involved with the group sooner - they're really cool people. Plus, during my volunteer work with them I've gotten to see more of Atlanta in six months than I did in four years of living here. Oh well, life goes on with or without us. It's just kind of funny that the people here I will miss the most (barring family, natch) are the people I've known for the shortest amount of time.And now, thanks to taschenrechner, rather than using the FSI language course, I'm trying the more convenient Mango Languages site. And during our office gift exchange, I received the Living Languages Drive Time, which is particularly useful this week with my hour-long commute. I won't use it as much in MS, but it'll still be good.