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(Ahmed) Mathieu Kérékou (born September 2, 1933) is the president of Benin.

After having studied at military schools in Mali and Senegal Kérékou served in the military, obtaining the grade of major. He seized power in a military coup on October 26, 1972 and made himself president. In November 1974 he nationalized the banks and the petroleum industry, and proclamed the country a Marxist-Leninist state. He also renamed the country from Dahomey to Benin on December 1, 1975. On September 28, 19801980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. Events January-February January 1- April 1 National steel strike in United Kingdom January 1 Changes to the Swedish Act of Succession creates Victoria of Sweden, Crown Princess over her younger brother January 5 He, Kérékou converted to IslamCairo Egypt Islm (In Arabic: , "submission (to God)"; In Persian and Urdu: ) is a monotheistic faith and the world's second-largest religion. Followers of Islam, known as Muslims believe that God (or, in Arabic, Allh revealed His Will to Muhammad (c. and changed his first name to Ahmed, but he later started to used the name Mathieu again.

The first African dictator to allow a democratizationDemocratization is the transition from authoritarian or semi-authoritarian systems to democratic political systems, where democratic systems are taken to be those approximating to universal suffrage, regular free and fair elections, a civil society, the r process in his country, his party, Popular Revolutionary Party of Benin (Parti du Revolutionare Popular du Benin, PRPB), denounced Marxism in 1990Events January January 3 Former leader of Panama Manuel Noriega surrenders to American forces. January 7 The Leaning Tower of Pisa is closed to the public due to safety concerns. January 9 Lt Gen Bazilio Olara Okello The man who led the coup aginst Dr Apo. Multi-party elections were allowed in 1991, which Kérékou lost, obtaining only 32 percent of the vote, less than half the share of former Prime Minister Nicéphore Soglo . In the 1996 elections Kérékou defeated Soglo in a run-off election and regained the precidency. He was re-elected for a second five-year term in March 2001.

During Kérékou's second time in office his government has followed a liberal economic path. The period has also seen Benin take part in international peacekeping missions in other African states. The constitution of Benin will prohibit Kérékou from running again in 2006 as he will be older than 70 years, the limit, and he has made it known he is not planning to change this.