Hubert Maga

Maga was born on August 10 or August 19, 1916 to a peasant family in Parakou, northern Dahomey. Maga claimed he was a descendant of the Kingdom of Bourgou's royal family. His Bariba mother and Voltaic father raised him in the Islamic faith. His education began at Parakou, where his teacher was Emile Derlin Zinsou's father, followed by schools in Bohicon and Abomey. where he remained for three years. During his subsequent schooling at the Ponty Normal School in Dakar, Maga became friends with Hamani Diori, the future president of Niger. In his twenties Maga converted to Roman Catholicism Marriages between northern and southern Dahomeyans were uncommon at the time. Maga was appointed director of the school in 1945. Along with his new wife, he began to increase his influence among uneducated citizens. He worked for trade unions after World War II, and led the Syndicat des instituteurs du Dahomey (Teachers' Union of Dahomey). ==Political background==

Maga's rise to power occurred during a period of intense regionalism, spurred by the historical resentment shared by members of the former kingdoms of Abomey, Porto Novo, and disorganised tribes from the north. Maga's Ethnic Group of the North (later the Dahomeyan Democratic Movement), which merged into the Dahomeyan Democratic Rally in 1957, received little support outside his northern headquarters. Even then, most of his backing came from the Bariba, while Apithy was mostly backed by the Yoruba and Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin, the Fon and Gouns. Regionalistic attitudes would only intensify during the rest of the political careers of the three men, ==Early political career==

Maga was elected a general adviser for the Atakora region in 1945, and, two years later, was appointed to the Grand Council of French West Africa, He subsequently became vice president of the assembly until his resignation in 1957. Maga, in an April 1968 interview, denied that Peperty ever played a part in the establishment. He claimed that he and his friends came up with the idea. As per a May 1951 electoral law, each party list was required to include two candidates for the two seats, and the candidates whose names appeared first on the two lists receiving the most votes were elected. Maga decided to run with René Deroux, an African medical officer. Capitalising on growing cynicism regarding southern Dahomey dominating the French colony's politics, he allied himself with the northern tribes. The May 1951 law also enlarged the electorate from 61,958 to 333,693. Some dead people were even counted as electors due to the mishandling of election cards. The Cotonou newspaper ''L'Etoile du Dahomey'' noted a man who gave an unlimited number of cards as long as they promised to vote for Maga's main opponent, accountant and deputy Sourou-Migan Apithy. Apithy was reelected a deputy with 53,463 votes out of 147,350 cast, while Maga captured the second seat with 49,329 and third candidate Emile Derlin Zinsou received a mere 18,410 ballots. Several smaller parties hosted several other candidates, which received the rest of the votes. Only 0.5 percent of Maga's votes came from the coastal region, while 98 percent came from northern towns and villages. The 1951 election has been cited as when regionalist parties arose, and it was the first whose pamphlets mentioned ethnicity. ==Deputy to the French National Assembly==

In Paris, Maga affiliated himself with the Overseas Independents, a political organization led by Leopold Sedar Senghor of Senegal. Of the 179,119 votes cast, Maga won 60,601 and Apithy won 64,344. ==Premier of Dahomey==

Maga's election coincided with a collapse of the colonial economy. There was little foreign investment in the country, and unemployment was rising. He thus felt that a consultation with the trade unions was necessary before selecting a Minister of Labor, Although Apithy wanted to return to his former position as Prime Minister, he was instead appointed Minister of State without responsibility for any specific department. Foreign affairs dominated Maga's first months in office, Nevertheless, a referendum on independence for Dahomey was held on September 28. It offered Dahomeyans three choices regarding the preferred political status: become a French département, join the French community and become a semi-autonomous state, or obtain full independence. The Dahomeyan people chose the second option, semi-autonomy, and full independence was scheduled for 1960. The premier announced on January 1, that: Popular opinion was soon behind Maga instead of Apithy. However, they became more vocal in trying to take over Dahomey. Maga began to ally with Chabi Mama and Arouna Mama, who became his closest colleagues. Following their negotiations, Dahomey was granted its independence. On Maga's return to his home country on June 13, he claimed that he had personally requested autonomy. Maga was chosen as Dahoomey's first president. ==President of Dahomey==

De facto president Shortly after independence, the three parties united as the ''Front d'Action Patriotique'' (Patriotic Action Front, or F.A.P.), and reorganised Dahomey into one electoral constituency. It was proposed that there would be an agreed list of electoral candidates, and that all of the legislative seats would be given to the party with the highest number of elected representatives from that list. This arrangement did not last long; Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin broke from the union and, using the discontent among people over the increasing rarity of jobs in the country, incited demonstrations In September, he claimed that a single party state was the only solution to the stagnation of the economy. Since he had recently renounced one party, he was looking for another party to lead. Meanwhile, Maga made Houphouët-Boigny recognize the R.D.D. as the Dahomeyan wing of his African Democratic Rally (R.D.A.). Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin had always believed that the U.D.D. was the sole representative of the Rally. The strike lasted for two days in the cities of Porto Novo and Cotonou, and became so serious that the police used tear gas. It ended when Maga sent down faithful Northerners armed with bows and arrows to patrol the streets at night. New constitution and official election Following the motion of censure's defeat, U.D.D. deputies began to resign from their jobs, The new constitution gave the president the right to ask the National Assembly to reconsider a bill if it did not pass with two-thirds of the votes, and submit referendums. A recently passed electoral law meant that every party that stood in the upcoming official elections had to list candidates for all 60 National Assembly deputies, as well as for president and vice president. Maga's only presidential opponent was Ahomadegbé-Tomêtin, whose running mate was Sacca Koto Ngobi. On December 11, 1960, Maga was formally elected as president for a five-year term; he received 468,002 votes, and Apithy vice president with the same term of office. Of Dahomey's 971,012 registered voters, 71 percent voted in the election. The P.D.U. received 69 percent of the vote and all 60 seats in the National Assembly. Although the U.D.D. received 31 percent of the popular vote, Maga's original cabinet resigned on December 29. He named the new ministers in his government the next day, and chose many leaders from the former R.D.D. and P.N.D. He appointed Arouna Mama as the Minister of the Interior; Assogba Oké to the post of Foreign Affairs; Paul Darboux to Trade and Economics; Sébastien Dassi to Agriculture; Victorien Gbaguidi to Transport and Public Works; Joseph Kekeh to Justice; René Deroux to Health and Social Affairs; Michel Ahouanmènou to Education; and Alexandre Adandé as Finance Minister. Newcomers were Bertin Borna, Labor and Civil Service; and Albert Teveodjré, the new Information Minister. To prevent a backlash from the opposition, Maga and his ministers moved their offices from Porto Novo to Cotonou, where the U.D.D had received 90 percent of the vote in the recent election. and less than a week later, so were Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin's trade unions. Maga declared that the country of Dahomey "ha[d] at last been born." Since Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin was unable and unwilling to pursue a coup d'état, he decided to conspire against the president. On May 26, Albert Teveodjré notified Maga that Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin had plotted to assassinate the president. He and 11 other dissidents were arrested, and a trial date was set for December. The trial differed from many others held in Africa in that it was conducted in public, and the defendants were represented by a lawyer from Paris. Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin received five years in jail for his role in the conspiracy, and the others received sentences from one to ten years. saying in a broadcast that it was not only due to their good behavior in jail but also to reconcile with his former enemies. With the threat from his enemies thus removed, Maga could focus on developing the national economy. He designed a four-year growth plan, to begin on January 1, 1962, that contained many ambitious acts, though this was frequently revised to be more realistic. It was designed to increase agricultural yields Part of the plan was to cut wages by ten percent. To ensure against a student uprising, the president combined the two major youth organizations in Dahomey, chapters of the World Federation of Youth and the World Federation of Democratic Youth, into the National Union of Dahomeyan Youth. It was to remain a nationally run organization, unaffiliated with any international institution. He nonetheless ran into trouble in the enforcement of his plan. Despite the economic hardship, the president commissioned French architect Chomette to design a presidential palace. At a cost of US$3 million, the building dominated Cotonou's promenade on its completion in 1963. The new palace contained a golden and marble porch, mosaic stairwells, pebble dash walls, and a two-story flag outdoors. Maga decided to reshuffle the cabinet in February 1962. He added the Planning and Development duties to Apithy's office to quench his thirst for power. Nonetheless, Apithy accused Maga of being a dictator, and a series of demonstrations the Vice President coordinated would ultimately force Maga out of office. These were not sparked by Maga himself, but rather the murder of David Dessou. Dessou riots and 1963 coup d'état January 1962 saw the poisoning of Dessou, an official of the Sakete sub-prefecture. The deputy from his constituency, named Christophe Bokhiri, specifically Article 37. Maga, meanwhile, was away in Paris during all of this. They remained somewhat orderly before the trade unionists were involved. While still led by Maga, the trade unionists were still upset by the wage cut and used the case to further their interests. Six trade unionists were arrested on the second day of demonstrations, causing the unions to call a general strike. By the end of the second day, protesters forced the National Assembly to put Bokhiri back in jail, and the Assembly simultaneously enforced a curfew. They were to get their wish. On October 28 Chief of Staff of the 800-man Dahomeyan Army Christophe Soglo took control of the country to prevent a civil war. He dismissed the cabinet, dissolved the Assembly, suspended the constitution, and banned any type of demonstrations. After having Maga sign his resignation the same day he gave Maga, Apithy, and Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin the powers of the Ministry of State. Southern Dahomey later created a statue in honor of this day in national history. ==Minister of State and house arrest==

The provisional government dissolved the P.D.U. and replaced it with a Dahomeyan Democratic Party (P.D.D.). It announced that a referendum on the status of the constitution was to be held on December 15. At the same time, a committee was established to investigate alleged wrongdoings by the Maga administration. In late November it began prosecuting members of the cabinet, including the Minister of National Economy and the Finance Minister, for misusing public funds. shortly before being placed under house arrest in an unidentified village. He was accompanied by a butler, a cook, and a driver. Four former cabinet members. He went into exile in Togo before moving to Paris. During Maga's exile, a number of coups were attempted against Presidents Soglo, Apithy, and Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin and their putschists. In order to gain power back, Maga formed a new party while in exile, the Union Nationale Dahoméenne (U.N.D.), on December 9, 1965. It was little more than a vehicle to be recognised in the upcoming elections, Maga and Apithy banded together to protest a special session of the National Assembly on December 21, 1965, that would vote on a new constitution for Dahomey, and the session was never held. Academic Dov Ronen speculates that this was because there would be no vice-presidents in the constitution, and the two politicians figured that a coalition would guarantee high offices for both. More coups were to follow, and eventually the military decided to return to civilian rule. All former presidents, vice presidents, government ministers, and National Assembly presidents were disqualified from Dahomey's first election since 1964, held on May 15, 1968, by incumbent Alphonse Amadou Alley. In response, Maga and Apithy staged protests while Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin supported an obscure candidate named Basile Adjou Moumouni. Moumouni won the election with 80 percent of the vote, but the result was declared void because the protest prevented nearly three-quarters of the electorate from voting. This result sparked further demonstrations, and Maga, Soglo, Apithy, and Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin were forbidden to enter the country, in an attempt to crack down on dissent. In the wake of further coups, politician Emile Derlin Zinsou was appointed civilian President of Dahomey by the military on June 17, 1968. Maga, Apithy, and Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin unified in Paris in opposing the appointment. They established the National Front for the Struggle of Dahomey, whose members promised "not to participate in any government, not to accept the authority of any president who is unacceptable by any of the living forces and the people of Dahomey." The triumvirate attempted another boycott of Zinsou's appointal and the subsequent referendum he chose to hold. However, the plan was not successful, and he was confirmed President of Dahomey on July 28 with 76.4 percent of the electorate voting for him. ==1970 election==

On December 10, 1969, Zinsou was overthrown by Maurice Kouandété, who had installed him as president in the first place. The military, however, refused to recognize Kouandété, and as the two men could not reach agreement, a Military Directorate was established with Paul Emile de Souza as its chairman. An election was held on March 28, 1970, to determine the true president. On this occasion, the triumvirate was allowed to campaign, and they did not miss the chance. It was also marked by a series of violent outbursts; invalidated reports state that six people were killed or wounded at incidents in Parakou on the eve of the elections. Fellow candidate Zinsou asserted that Maga supporters had killed one of his supporters during said incidents. These charges did not affect Maga's standing in the polls; he received a majority of the vote in the north, and Apithy and Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin received a majority in the southeast and southwest/central, respectively. In the entire south, Maga received 24,000 votes compared to the 180,000 who voted for him in the Borgou Department, obtaining 97.3 percent of the 78 percent turnout. Zinsou, running to counter the constant tribal clashes, received 3 percent, with 17,551 votes. Outraged, Maga formed the Assembly of the Peoples of the North, which threatened to secede unless he was declared President. explaining that he rejected the idea of a coalition "for personal reasons". The other former Presidents, on the other hand, agreed to a hasty compromise on April 13 to prevent a civil war. ==Presidential council==

Under Maga A presidential council, consisting of Maga, Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin, and Apithy, was set up on May 7 with a presidency that changed every two years. Maga inaugurated this system for the first two years. Each man agreed to not use the military to extend their term or use any other means toward that consequence. If decisions were not unanimous during the first round of voting, a two councilman majority would suffice on the second round. The council served as the executive and legislative branch of Dahomey. Maga's economic policies during his chairmanship helped quiet union leaders whose protests during his presidency had been intense. He helped create a tax plan that would finance their salaries By decree of Maga and the rest of the council, Togolese opposition leader Noe Kutuklui was officially expelled from Dahomey on October 27, 1971, where he had been practicing law since the late 1960s. It was at the request of General Etienne Eyadema, president of Togo, as Kutuklui had been involved in several plots against Eyadema's military government. The council's decision to extradite him spurred demonstrations in Cotonou. Maga was unable to carry out his decision; Alphonse Alley protected Kutuklui and took him to an unknown place outside of Dahomey. Col. Alley received no punishment whatsoever for his role in the Affair. The military was also aroused. The formation of a presidential council only further enraged the army. Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin was ambushed while traveling to a rally in Abomey on May 7, 1971. Maga initially denied its existence, and to this day details are unclear. An artillery camp at Ouidah was the location of another military uprising on January 28, 1972. The president sent two officers to overpower the rebels although no punishment was undertaken. Both Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin and Maga believed that the latter incident was an attempted coup. Kouandété attempted to usurp power again at dawn on February 23. When he first heard of the mutiny, Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin believed that it was an attempt by Maga to remain in power. A 12-member military commission would soon discover another plot, that would have been undertaken simultaneous to Kouandété's. The recent events epitomised the council's "fear and contempt" for the military. Under Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin Maga transferred power to Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin on May 7, 1972. This was the first time in 12 years that the head of Dahomey was succeeded in a nonmilitary fashion. The new chairman congratulated Maga and praised the triumvirate as "one of [Dahomey's] most beneficial institutions." It was believed that the triumvirate would continually undermine each other, and the simple transition of power was viewed as a positive step toward Dahomeyan unity. The punishments were announced on May 16. Kouandété received the death penalty, as did Captains Josué and Glélé, Quartermaster Sergeant Agboton, and a corporal and a sergeant in absentia. Lesser sentences were handed to five men who were given life imprisonment, two who would serve 20 years in prison, another with 15 years, two with ten, and two with five. An additional four were acquitted. The sentences were never carried out; the jurors believed that Kouandété would seize power in another coup. One of the most notable aspects of Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin's time in power was the Kovacs Affair. It began with Pascal Chabi Kao being given a monopoly over selling official stationery to the Presidential Council and spread to claims of bribery and embezzlement. Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin tried to fire Chabi Kao, but Maga, who was Chabi Kao's mentor, refused. Maga convinced Apithy to help and the bill was vetoed. , who overthrew the Presidential Council in 1972, in a 2006 photograph Another coup was launched by soldiers of the Ouidah garrison on October 26. Kérékou had served as Maga's aide-de-camp in 1961. According to reports at the scene, soldiers abruptly arrived in the Cabinet room of the presidential palace and started firing bullets, but no one was injured. Maga, Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin, and Apithy spent more than nine years in prison before being freed by Kérékou in 1981. ==Later life and death==

Maga established the National Party for Democracy and Development in 1989 and participated in the National Conference of 1990, which gave amnesty to all Beninese political refugees. He also was a member of the High Council of the Republic At the time of his death, he sat upon the Constitutional Court of Dahomey. On May 8, 2000, Maga died of a heart attack in Cotonou. ==Honours==

• : Collar of the Order of Pope Pius IX (14/09/1962). • Empire of Iran : Commemorative Medal of the 2500th Anniversary of the founding of the Persian Empire (14/10/1971). ==Notes==