NYT > Benin
NYT > Benin
Updated: Aug. 19, 2010
The Republic of Benin, a small country on the western coast of Africa, has been a multiparty democratic republic since 1991. The country has not looked back since a popular uprising effectively overthrew the corrupt military dictatorship two decades ago, the first such overthrow in post-colonial Africa. President Thomas Yayi Boni heads the government of this former French Colony.
Benin has long been a regional exemplar of stability with an absence of military in the streets, a Parliament not in the pocket of the president and a relatively free press.
But in August 2010 that stability was rattled by a Ponzi scheme that has ended in disaster for tens of thousands of families, wiping out savings, shaking the economy and threatening the president in the nation of nine million.
Officials estimate that there are between 50,000 and 70,000 victims, with losses of perhaps $180 million — a big sum in a place where most subsist on less than $2 a day and breadwinners have extended families counting on them.
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Fraud victims brandished official-looking "I.C.C." contracts with the Statue of Liberty and the stamps and seals that are a staple of West African officialdom. They said they had been enticed by seeing members of the government on television with company officials.
Anxious and angry victims were insistent that because they had seen pictures of Mr. Boni, himself a former banker, alongside officials of the company, called Investment Consultancy and Computering Services they assumed that it must be legitimate.
Now, victims of the scheme associate Mr. Boni's government with it. And there is corresponding fear among analysts that citizens will give up on the country's young democracy and take to the streets as they did in 1989 to get rid of the military dictatorship.
A majority of lawmakers in Parliament have signed a letter demanding that Mr. Boni be tried before Benin's Supreme Court for "favoring the activities" of the fraudulent company.
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Pirates Hijack Tanker and 23 Crew Members off Benin
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The hijacking was the latest in a series of increasingly brazen assaults on commercial shipping in a coastal region of Africa that had been considered relatively safe until this year.
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09/14/2010 08:00 AM
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Seeking New Respect, and New Practitioners, for Voodoo
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 Dah Aligbonon Akpochihala, a voodoo priest in Benin, promotes the religion at his temple and in books, as well as on TV and radio.
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08/19/2010 08:00 AM
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Scheme Rattles Benin, an Anchor of Stability
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 A Ponzi scheme has shaken the economy in a nation that has long been an exemplar of stability in West Africa.
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A Hybridist Jamming With the World
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 With his major-label debut, Lionel Loueke adds to jazz’s increasingly international flavor.
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Bush, in Africa, Emphasizes Successes Over Conflicts
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 President Bush defended his decision not to visit violence-stricken nations like Kenya and Sudan, saying he wanted to focus on his programs to fight AIDS and malaria.
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02/15/2008 08:00 AM
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Turmoil in Africa Alters Focus of Bush’s 5-Nation Tour
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On the eve of a planned trip to Africa, President Bush thrust himself into the role of peacemaker on Thursday.
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05/18/2007 08:00 AM
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Arts, Briefly; From Albright-Knox, a Benin Bronze
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Albright-Knox Art Gallery sells several older works at Sotheby's; 17th-century bronze head from kingdom of Benin sells for $4.74 million
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03/02/2005 08:00 AM
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Titan Corp. to Pay $28.5 Million in Fines for Foreign Bribery
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The Titan Corporation, a leading military and intelligence contractor, will pay $28.5 million to settle criminal and civil charges that it bribed the president of Benin, government officials said yesterday.
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02/12/2005 08:00 AM
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West African Leaders Spar With Togo's Army-Backed President
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West African leaders summoned Togo's new president to talks in Niger, threatening immediate sanctions if he did not attend.
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11/05/2004 08:00 AM
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Oldest Profession Is Still One of the Oldest Lures for Young Nigerian Women
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 For nearly 20 years, the women of Benin City, Nigeria, have been going to Italy to work in the sex trade.
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07/31/2004 08:00 AM
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INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS; U.S. Will Cut Farm Subsidies In Trade Deal
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US yields to pressure from developing countries and agrees to make 20 percent cut in some of $19 billion in subsidies it pays to American farmers each year, as members of World Trade Organization meet in Geneva to win approval for new deal governing world trade; US trade representative Robert B Zoellick reaches agreement to cut subsidies; also reaches accord with Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali in West Africa for eventual cutbacks in subsidies paid to American cotton growers; photo
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01/11/2004 08:00 AM
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Polio Cases In West Africa May Thwart W.H.O. Plan
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World Health Organization blames Nigeria for spread of polio to at least six other West African countries in recent months; seeks to halt spread of disease through immunization of children in affected area, but acknowledges that this puts strain on countries that had already eradicated disease; chief obstacle to immunization program has been opposition by some Islamic leaders in Nigerian state of Kano; outbreak threatens WHO's goal of total eradication of polio by 2006
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