EXECUTIVE SUMMARY __________________________________________________________________________ departments, with the CRM visiting all six departmental prefectures; and the third in Porto-Novo, the administrative capital of Benin and home to the National Assembly and the Mediator of the Republic. 1.10 For the first time in the history of the APRM, a ‘recap’ meeting was held at the end of the visit during a dinner presided over by the president of the republic and attended by members of government and the highest officers of the administration, as well as representatives of civil society and the corporate world. During this meeting the CRM team presented the main provisional results of its consultations, highlighting the great achievements made in Benin but also pointing out the challenges identified during the review. In his presentation, the head of state reaffirmed his willingness to make the APRM an instrument of good governance in his country. He emphasised the fact that the people of Benin were committed to developing a robust programme of action in order to take up the identified challenges and to implement the recommendations of the APRM assessment. 2. HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND CURRENT CHALLENGES 2.1 From being a protectorate in 1894 and thereafter the French colony of Dahomey, Benin gained independence under the name Republic of Dahomey on 1 August 1960. The following month it was admitted to the United Nations (UN). In 1975, the country assumed its current name. Its borders had been fixed in colonial times following agreements with Great Britain (which had established itself in neighbouring Nigeria) and Germany (established in Togo) when Dahomey was still integrated into French West Africa (AOF) in 1899. During the interwar period, Dahomey was one of the main political and intellectual centres of the AOF, largely due to the importance given to education (thanks to religious missions), particularly in the south. Numerous political parties were founded during this era, along with newspapers opposing the colonial system. Aligned with free France during World War II, Dahomey became an autonomous state within the French community in 1958. 2.1 From independence to the National Sovereign Conference 2.2 The years following independence were marked by great political instability and successive changes in political regime. The country has known two constitutions, four military coups d’état and 10 presidents of the republic or heads of state – both civilian and military – in 10 years. In 1970, a threemember Presidential Council assumed the reins of power and two years later, in 1972, the council was once again deposed by a military coup d’état, bringing Major Mathieu Kérékou to power. From 1974 onwards, the latter established a political system based on a Marxist-Leninist ideology. 2.3 During the 1980s, Benin’s economic situation continued to decline. In 1987, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme imposed drastic measures: an additional 10% salary deduction, a hiring freeze and the forced retirement 3