Iropa Maurice Kouandété

Maurice Kouandété , also Iropa Maurice Kouandété (born September 22, 1932 in Natitingou , † April 7, 2003 in Natitingou) was head of state of Dahomey , today's Benin, for a few days in 1967 and 1969 .

Early years

Kouandété came from Natitingou in the north of Dahomey, France at the time . He first attended school in Natitingou and later in Senegal and what is now Mali . In 1954 he joined the French army in Dakar and was trained in Strasbourg , Fréjus and Saint-Maixent-l'École . After Dahomeys gained independence in 1960, he joined his army .

head of state

On December 19, 1967, Captain Kouandété was the leader of the military coup against General Christophe Soglo . Two days later, the new specific junta to Lieutenant Colonel Alphonse Alley Amadou new president. Kouandété was prime minister (until July 17, 1968), chief of staff and promoted to lieutenant colonel. The civilian Émile Derlin Henri Zinsou , who has meanwhile been appointed president by the military, was overthrown on December 10, 1969 by another coup led by Kouandété. He returned to the position of head of state before the office passed to Paul-Émile de Souza three days later . De Souza's presidency also ended in a coup led by Kouandété.

Further career

In 1990 he was a member of the national conference convened by President Mathieu Kérékou in view of the poor economic situation. Under President Nicéphore Dieudonné Soglo , Kouandété, who was considered a partisan of Kérékou, was temporarily imprisoned in 1996.

He died of asystole on April 7, 2003 , and five ministers in President Kérékou's government paid his family a condolence visit. Kouandété was married and had four children.