Mathieu Kérékou

Mathieu Kérékou (2 September 1933 – 14 October 2015) was a Beninese politician and revolutionary who served as president of the People's Republic of Benin from 1972 to 1991 and the Republic of Benin from 1996 to 2006. After seizing power in a military coup, he ruled the country for 18 years under an officially Marxist–Leninist ideology, before he was stripped of his powers by the National Conference of 1990. He was defeated in the 1991 presidential election but was returned to the presidency in the 1996 election and controversially re-elected in 2001.

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