ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The APR Panel of Eminent Persons is pleased to present its review report on Benin. An undertaking such as this is clearly impossible without the extraordinary goodwill and contribution of a large number of people. The panel would therefore like to acknowledge the unfailing support of the Beninese people and, in particular, the personal involvement and availability of His Excellency Dr Thomas Boni Yayi, president of the Republic of Benin, and his predecessor, His Excellency Mr Mathieu Kérékou, who set the country on the APRM path. The panel would also like to express its thanks to the national APR Focal Point; Mr Okanla Moussa, minister of foreign affairs, African integration, Francophony and the Beninese diaspora; Mrs Mariam Diallo, special advisor to the president and exminister of foreign affairs; Mr Séraphin Lissassi, director of African integration; Professor Honorat Aguessy, president of the Independent National Commission for the Implementation of the APRM (INCI-APRM); and all the other members of the commission who carried out the self-assessment exercise with diligence and meticulousness and who, with the same skill and determination, facilitated the assessment of the country by the APR team. Representatives of the government and state institutions, the private sector and civil society sensitised the grass-roots communities, popularised the APRM and gathered extremely useful comments for the Country Review Mission (CRM). In addition, the local office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) provided logistical support to the mission. The APR Panel would like to take this opportunity to express its warm appreciation and acknowledgment to these role-players. This report, the sixth of its kind, is the product of five months of work and effort by a team of high-level African experts who have worked patiently and relentlessly under the intellectual leadership of Marie-Angélique Savané, member of the APR Panel of Eminent Persons, and under the enlightened leadership of the panel, with the administrative support of the APR Secretariat. This team comprised Mr Mbaya J Kankwenda, Mr Donatien Bihute, Mr Ousmane Diallo, Mr Yenikoye Ismael Aboubacar, Mr Karim Ben Kahla, Mr Léopold Donfack Sokeng, Mr Racine Kane, Mrs Souad Abdennebi-Abderrahim, Mr Daniel Gbetnkom, Mr Gaston Bushayija, Mr Moise Nembot, Mr Sudir Chuckun and Mr Dalmar Jama. The APR Panel would like to express its deep gratitude to them and to emphasise the debt that is owed to them. It would not have been possible to assess the four focus areas of the APRM in Benin without the decisive and unconditional support of the APRM’s strategic partners. These are the African Development Bank (ADB), the UNDP and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). The APR Panel also undoubtedly owes its grateful thanks to its respective heads, and would like to pay homage to Donald ii