Benin

Benin's President Thomas Boni Yayi has said he believes an attack by gunmen on his convoy last week was an assassination bid by enemies opposed to his campaign to stamp out corruption in the small West African state. Yayi, a technocrat banker who was elected last year on a platform promising change, escaped unhurt when unidentified attackers opened fire on Thursday while he was campaigning in the north for parliamentary elections to be held on Sunday.

The rural society in Benin is involved in a number of important dynamics: decentralisation, privatisation and the transfer of central state functions to local authorities and the private sector, including farmer's organisations. Other ongoing changes are the search for an adequate access to and delivery of basic services, a better and equitable access to economic markets, migration to urban and coastal areas, increasing pressure on natural resources.

The Republic of Benin's National Assembly voted July 17 to pass the country's first comprehensive sexual harassment legislation aimed at protecting girls and women in schools, workplaces and in homes, according to the Women's Rights Initiative, a program of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Benin is preparing to swear in a new leader, this after a former head of the West African Development Bank won the second round of presidential elections held earlier this month in the West African country. Results issued by the National Autonomous Electoral Commission showed that Boni Yayi garnered an overwhelming majority of votes: 74.51 percent. His challenger, attorney Adrien Houngbedji, received only 25.49 percent. This was reportedly the first time a presidential candidate had won by su...read more

Boni Yayi, a former banker making a maiden bid for political office, has won the first round of Benin’s presidential elections, according to provisional results released on Monday. Yayi, who ran for the 5 March poll as an independent candidate backed by a coalition of groups and parties, won 35.6 percent of the vote, the National Election Commission (CENA) said late on Monday after counting 96.39 percent of the votes.

Pages