Benin-Maga
Hubert Maga, Benin’s first president, dies aged 84
COTONOU, May 8 (AFP) - Hubert Maga, the first president of independent
Dahomey, died overnight at the age of 84 following a heart attack, his
family said Monday.
Maga, representing the north of the country at the head of his Dahomey
Unity Party, was elected president in December 1960, the year Dahomey won
independence from France. The country was renamed Benin in 1975.
In October 1963, he was overthrown in a military coup led by Colonel
Christophe Soglo.
Maga returned to power in 1970 as a member of a triumvirate, which in turn
was overthrown in October 1972 in a coup mounted by Mathieu Kerekou,
currently the elected president.
The late former president was serving on the Constitutional Court at the
time of his death.
ek/gd/nb


sidi sanneh

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