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Benen bezwen yon pwosesis nasyonal pou rekipere apre minasyon sistemik estati baliz demokratik

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The spotlight has been on Benin twice in recent months. The first time was when French President Emmanuel Macron visited our country earlier in the summer and the second was when Benin’s President Patrice Talon visited Paris just last week, writes Rogatien Biaou.

That spotlight was strong enough that international concerns over Benin’s democratic backsliding were raised, but brief enough that the world turned its attention elsewhere quite quickly. The fact is that we have been witnessing the erosion of the democracy that Benin had been so proud of since 1991 but that has been under systematic attack since 2016.

The stark truth is that the current regime has been using the justice system to attack political opponents, to the pint where we have seen the elimination of all possibility of legitimate opposition.  New electoral rules also allowed the regime to consolidate power in 2021. There has been deadly police violence used against protestors and activists have been arrested. There is also grave concern over the judicial body, known as CRIET, supposedly created to fight corruption and terrorism, but it is being abused to target political rivals. It does not end there. After the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights repeatedly ruled against the administration’s policies, the government prevented the court from hearing cases brought against them by individuals and non-governmental organisations. Under these conditions, Benin cannot be considered a democracy.

President Talon and his government have detained people who post critically about them on Facebook, journalists have been jailed and larger, influential media outlets have been closed. It is believed that of those prosecuted for “corruption”, most are in the opposition and it is widely accepted that the charges are trumped up. When political opponents are imprisoned and platforms for the opposition to express themselves – whether traditional media, social media or peaceful protest -  are removed, it is not possible to have a real opposition. This is a key indicator of authoritarianism.

The government has tightened its grip on the media sector and strongly influences appointment of the principal directors of government media and of the media regulatory agency. The ORTB, especially its television networks, are required to relay the government’s message, while media who are close to the opposition face a lot of pressure. The Information and Communication Code of 2015 is ignored and bypassed so as to attack journalists. Since 2018, we have seen the Digital Law used against journalists who work online. In reality it is a tool for arbitrarily detaining journalists. While Benin’s media is under this much pressure, we cannot consider the country to be a democracy.

The problems we are facing have become systemic. The current regime has not only broken the rules, they have re-written them to consolidate their power. For example, in the run-up to the 2019 legislative elections, the regime-appointed electoral commission used last minute registration requirements to invalidate the candidacy of anyone who was not their supporter. The new National Assembly in 2019 approved a new electoral law requiring candidates to receive sponsorships from sitting officials. Similar systemic damage was done when the government withdrew Benin from the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), when decisions went against them. The creation of the special court supposedly to prosecute terrorism and economic crimes (CRIET), but really to target the opposition is yet another example of the systemic abuses taking place. As is the new 2018 Digital Code that criminalises criticism of government officials.

How does the country overcome such systemic undermining of its democratic state? Benin needs the immediate organization of inclusive Assises Nationales (national meetings) to establish a transition for the refoundation of the Republic and the State, the restoration of democracy and the state of law, the reintegration and success of Benin internationally, the revaluation of African culture and the influence of Pan-Africanism in all its dimensions. The Assises Nationales are where we must begin.

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There is reason to have faith that we will return to a truly democratic path. We know we truly were a stable and committed democracy from 1991 until 2016, with peaceful, democratic transitions of power via elections in a multiparty system. We built that foundation for ourselves. But we must not underestimate the current challenge and we need the international community to offer sustained support for our re-routing back to the democratic beacon status of which we had rightly been so proud.

Rogatien Biaou is a Beninese politician and diplomat. He is the President of the Alliance Patriotique Nouvel Espoir, an alliance of parties, fronts, movements and political figures in Benin. He was the Foreign Minister of Benin from June 12, 2003 to February 16, 2006.

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