Nicéphore Dieudonné Soglo

Nicéphore Soglo (2012)

Nicéphore Dieudonné Soglo (born November 29, 1934 in Lomé ) is a Beninese politician. He was President of Benin from 1991 to 1996 .

Life

Soglo studied law and economics at the University of Paris . He returned to Benin, where he worked in finance and economics until the Mathieu Kérékous coup in 1972. After the coup, Soglo worked outside Benin at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, among others .

At the end of the 1980s, the weakened Kérékou government convened a national conference on the introduction of multi-party democracy, at which Soglo was appointed interim prime minister in 1990. In the first multi-party elections, Soglo defeated Kérékou and became president of the country on April 4, 1991. His wife Rosine founded the Parti Renaissance du Bénin (PRB) party in 1992 , of which Soglo became chairman in 1994.

In 1996, Soglo declared Voodoo to be the third officially recognized religion alongside Christianity and Islam , and since then January 10th has been an official holiday as the Voodoo festival .

During his presidency he tried to revive Benin's fallow economy. However, these efforts sparked unrest and undermined its popularity. In March 1996 he had to admit defeat to Kérékou, as well as in the 2001 elections.

In December 2002 he was elected Mayor of Cotonou . Together with the former US President Jimmy Carter , he led the group of international election observers for the presidential elections in Liberia in October 2005 .

Web links

• CV (French)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Feasts of Religions: Voodoo Festival