Benin

Implementing government accounting systems is a plank of governance and development reforms in developing countries seeking transparent and effective management of public resources. However, despite significant donor funding, such reforms often fail or have limited success, especially in Africa. This has prompted questions about the implementation approach adopted by donors; and calls for studies of successful reforms. This paper investigates a local government accounting reform in Benin supported by GIZ – a German development agency –  that was perceived as successful due to the participatory, pragmatic and incremental development approach used reinforced by conditionality arrangements in the face of neo-patrimonial leadership.

Interpretation of symbols and glyphs found on 1st Dynasty BCE to 18th Century CE artifacts, are a means of tracing the transformational journeys of Bes, the Egypto-Nubian deity. The wanderings, which began in Nubia and Upper Egypt, continued north up the Nile into teeming markets and inns of port cities connected to the sea routes of the Mediterranean and Aegean and by land migrations west to Benin.
Beliefs based upon ancient Pygmy philosophy and tenets were incorporated into Bes as a divine representative. These views were spread by means of reciprocal gift systems, trade, migration and wars. The growing need for an accessible protector, healer and divine intermediary, spanning the distance from the Levant to the western Mediterranean was met by Bes, binding diverse communities into a common front against the external forces of disease and death.
As successive wanderings took place mostly in times of transition and upheaval, cultural contact between dissimilar populations malleably transformed images, names and myths associated with Bes  and Pygmy ancestors. These complex results are comprehensively examined in this paper to help us successfully transition into a new era.

The projection of geographic coordinates of artesianism points of
Upper Cretaceous aquifer on the fractures map of southwestern part of the Bénin coastal sedimentary basin revealed a significant relationship between artesian wells and fracturations. The artesian wells are aligned along fractures oriented NNE-SSW derived from the reactivation of Kandi fault. The artesianism of Upper Cretaceous aquifer, resulting in drilling wells and water oozing, would be related to effects of topography and the arrangement of geological layers and faults.

An estimated 40 % of the population in Benin lives in urban areas. The purpose of the study was to estimate malaria endemicity and the fraction of malaria-attributable fevers in health facilities in Cotonou. A health care system evaluation and a series of school parasitaemia surveys and health facility-based surveys were carried out during the dry season in of 2003, applying standard Rapid Urban Malaria Appraisal (RUMA) methodology. This study was part of a multi-site assessment supported by the Roll Back Malaria Partnership. The field work was carried out in February-March 2003. In 2002 and out of 289,342 consultations in the public health facilities of Cotonou there were 100,257 reported simple malaria cases (34.6%) and 12,195 complicated malaria cases (4.2%). In the school parasitaemia surveys, a malaria infection was found in 5.2 % of all samples. The prevalence rates of parasitaemia in the centre, intermediate and periphery zones were 2.6%, 9.0% and 2.5%, respectively. In the h...

Benin has been repeatedly characterized in the academic literature as lacking in social trust. It is also a country where traditional/ethnic religions, particularly Vodun, remain prominent and influential. While traditional religion in Benin has been studied in relation to many disciplines (such as education and politics), this work has rarely been quantitative. In response to this gap, this essay examines the relation between social trust and traditional/ethnic religion in Benin by using probit regressions to analyze data from the Afrobarometer surveys. It finds that people who identify traditional/ethnic religion as their religion are less likely to trust other people in general and neighbors, but they are not less likely to trust relatives. This essay’s finding that traditional/ethnic religion is negatively and statistically significantly related with trust in non-relatives has important implications for development. Efforts to increase social trust and improve social capital in Benin should explicitly account for the role traditional/ethnic religions play.

Retreatment of tuberculosis is the leading risk factor for drug resistance if the management is not adequate and complete. The objective of this study was to evaluate the management of cases of retreatment in Cotonou. This was a retrospective, descriptive cross type which covered a period of 5years. Outcomes of retreatment cases were compared against those for new cases that were registered during the same period. We analyzed the cases of 389 retreatment patients and 4542 new cases. The success rates of treatment were generally satisfactory (80% vs. 86%, P=0.0001). Of adverse outcomes, the rate of loss of sight of was 12% versus 7%, P=0.26, the rate was 23% for cases of occasions. The failure rate was low and similar in both populations (2%). The retreatment regimen for patients with TB in Cotonou appears to give generally satisfactory results. The high loss to follow-up in case of retreatment means that a personalized therapeutic approach for such patients is needed in general and ...

The “Polee and Rose Allen of the Slave Ship Clotilda and Africatown, Alabama” Explorers Club Flag Expedition took place in February, March and April 2022.  This Final Flag Report contains the following sections:

• Flag Photos of the Expedition
• Location of the Expedition
• Goals of this Effort
• Why This Work is Important
• Previous Relevant Work
• Summary of Genealogical Findings
• Other Activities and Accomplishments
• Targets for Possible Archaeological, Historical & Land Ownership Investigation
• Land Ownership Map
• Any Toulmin Connection? 
• Participants in the Expedition
• Covid Precautions
• Annexes:

o A: Maps of the area
o B: Images of the expedition
o C:  New photo of Cudjo Lewis and Helen Duggar Conwell, c. 1935
o D:  Interview with Orlando Pogue
o E.  A song for the expedition
o F:  Flag #212 award email
o G. History of Flag # 212
o H: Lifetime list of Toulmin expeditions
o I:  Previous Flag Expeditions

Additionally,  a separate attachment is available on “The Polee, Rose and Lucy Allen Lines: Genealogical Descents from Africa, the Slave Ship Clotilda, and Africatown, Alabama to the Present,” and two separate supplements containing information from obituaries and funeral programs of Polee's descendants will be published in May 2022.

This essay explores the salsa scene in Cotonou, Benin, focusing particularly on fieldwork at successive editions of the Benin International Salsa Festival, to demonstrate that this 'return' of Afro-Latin music and dance to West Africa in this popular and demotic form enables a West African performance of the memory of slavery. I consolidate this point through the study of archival documents pertaining to the launch of the UNESCO Slave Route project in 1994 at Ouidah, Benin. Through this analysis of dance, music, and archival materials, I argue for a 'multidirectional' ownership of the traumas of the Black Atlantic, that enables a reparative stance towards slavery as a shared circum-Atlantic legacy.

Le tambour apíntí du viLLage de tchetti (iFẹ`du bénin) D ans les villes et villages du département des Collines au Bénin, le tambour apíntí (ou abíntí) est notamment joué pour les rituels que rendent les populations Ifẹ̀, Iṣà et Ìdáìṣà, d'origine yorùbá, à la divinité Nàná Bùrùkúù. En Afrique subsaharienne, Nàná Bùrùkúù est connue et révérée par plusieurs com-munautés yorubaphones du Bénin, du Togo, du Ghana et du Nigeria. Son sanctuaire

Unpuplished 1 paper and 1 excerpt of Museum Main Catalogue, compiled in 2008 in preparation of the exhibition "Benin - 600 Jahre höfische Kunst aus Nigeria. An exhibition of the Ethnological Museum, National Museums in Berlin in co-operation with the Museum für Völkerkunde in Vienna, the National Commission for Museums and Monuments in Nigeria, the musée du quai Branly in Paris and The Art Institute of Chicago. 02/08 to 5/25, 2008. By Africa Curator P. Junge for V. König, Director.
Iranola Akinolu Akingun-Roberts, Director General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Abuja/Nigeria, opened the exhibition together with the Director General of the Staatliche Musuenn zu Berlin. It was expected that Iranola Akinolu Akingun-Roberts would address the claim for restitution of the works to Nigeria. However, in his speech and conversation, Iranola Akinolu Akingun-Roberts expressed his wish for collaboration in the first place, and did not demand any restitution.

The adoption of good practices in access to water, hygiene and sanitation is very important for the well-being and socioeconomic development of any community. The objective of the study was to evaluate the knowledge and practices that households adopt regarding water supply, hygiene and sanitation. For this, a survey was conducted among 386 households in the seven districts of the commune of Sô-Ava. The data collected was analyzed using the XLSTAT 17 software and the Excel Spreadsheet. The results obtained show that in the commune of Sô-Ava, drilling is the most used water source and that nearly 66.33% of households do not cover their containers during the transport of water with a rate that varies from 2.85 to 25.39% from one borough to another. Sô-Ava is the district that has the highest number of latrines is that with a rate of 3.11%. In addition, most households dispose of their garbage and wastewater either in the wild or in the water body in the absence of a waste collection system. The low level 174 of hygiene and sanitation observed could affect the quality of drinking water and hence the health of the population.

Introduction: the incidence of gunshot wounds is clearly increasing
in our countries. The treatment of these lesions in a civilian environment has evolved considerably in recent years. The aim of this study was to describe the socio demographic, lesional and therapeutic aspects of civilian firearm trauma at the National Teaching Hospital of Cotonou. Materials and methods: It was a descriptive retrospective study conducted at the National Teaching Hospital of Cotonou, covering the period from January 2015 to December 2016 (2 years). Included in the study were gunshot wounds, supported by Trauma Orthopedic departement. Patients who received initial care before admission and those aged less than 15 years were excluded. Results: fifteen patients were identified during the study period. The median admission time was 13 hours.All patients were male and the median age was 33.71 years. The circumstances were divided into aggression (11 cases, 73.3%), two lost balls (13.3%) and two handling accidents (13.3%). In 9 cases (60%), a handgun was causing the injuries. An antibiotic prophylaxis made of amoxicillin / clavulanic acid was started in all patients and was associated with gentamicin in case of bone involvement. All lesions were surgically treated according to a protocol including trimming, exploration and delayed primary closure. No internal fixation was performed urgently but performed secondarily after healing of wounds and negativation of the C-reactive protein in a median time of 23 days. Conclusion: lesions resulting from ballistic injuries in civilian environments are rarely serious and their management differs in some respects from that of firearm injuries in war situations.

Nous voulons donner une vue de la situation actuelle de la façon dont les TIC sont utilisées dans la préparation, la conception et la dispense des cours chez les enseignants des Sciences de la vie et de la terre (SVT) du secondaire général public béninois. Il s'agit donc d'une part, de faire un bilan sur la connaissance des TIC, les besoins de formation et la façon dont les enseignants font usage des TIC et, d'autre part, les défis à relever en matière d’intégration de ces outils dans leur pratique pédagogique. L’article s’articule autour de trois points : le premier fait le point sur la connaissance et les besoins en formation des enseignants en matière des TIC ; le second expose l’utilité telle que perçue par les enseignants et, l’usage effectif d’ordinateur et internet dans leur pratique pédagogique ; et le troisième met l’accent sur les défis à relever en matière d’intégration de ces technologies dans leur pratique pédagogique puis quelques recommandations dans une perspective d’amélioration. Les résultats de l’étude montrent que l’utilisation des TIC en général et d’Internet en particulier pour des applications pédagogiques ne semble pas encore accrocher la majorité des enseignants des SVT du secteur public béninois. Beaucoup d’enseignants ignorent encore les énormes potentialités qu’offre Internet pour améliorer la qualité de l’apprentissage.

[Article en libre accès : https://archipel.uqam.ca/10742/]

Avec Arnauld Aguidissou, Aïché Bâ, Tidiane Cissé, Djibril Diouf, Amadou Mamadou Djigo, Mahamoudou Djittèye, Godefroy Marie Julien Gaméné, N’guessan Kanga, Mohamed Khattar, Aristide Kodjahon, Tamba Ngom, Issa Sylla, Kossi Toto, Christian Paulin Zouré. "La langue anglaise en Afrique de l’Ouest francophone" analyse la situation linguistique de huit nations ouest-africaines – le Bénin, le Burkina Faso, la Côte d’Ivoire, la Guinée, le Mali, la Mauritanie, le Sénégal et le Togo – fin d’identifier les rôles que joue l’anglais dans ces pays. La présente étude décrit ensuite les différentes manières dont l’anglais est enseigné, qui sont les professeurs, comment les apprenants et leurs professeurs perçoivent la langue et quelles sont les possibilités qui existent dans la région pour les personnes souhaitant embrasser la carrière de professeur d’anglais. Le livre est basé sur une recherche commandée par le British Council et éalisée par une équipe de quatorze professeurs et formateurs d’anglais issus de l’ensemble de la région. ’équipe a été coordonnée par Hywel Coleman, Chargé de Recherche Honoraire à la School of Education (Faculté des Sciences de l’Éducation) de l’Université de Leeds.

Unpublished paper and excerpt from Ethnologisches Museum Main Catalogue, compiled in preparation of the catalogue of the exhibition "Benin. 600 Years of Court Art from Nigeria" - An exhibition of the Ethnological Museum, with the Museum für Völkerkunde in Vienna, the National Commission for Museums and Monuments in Nigeria, the musée du quai Branly in Paris and The Art Institute of Chicago. By P. Junge, Africa Curator for V. König, Director.

This article addresses the theme of entrepreneurship in Africa by focusing on second-hand car markets in Cotonou, Be ́nin. At first glance this booming business seems to confirm neo-liberal and institutional models of entrepreneurship, in which entrepreneurial behaviour constitutes rational calculation in a situation of economic opportunity. The universe in which African car traders operate, however, is characterised by significant capital scarcity, dramatic losses and widespread bankruptcies. The article argues that viewing entrepreneurs as economic calculators is not the proper way to understand the Cotonou car trade. Based on case analysis of a Be ́ninese car trader, it shows that the outcome of car trading in Cotonou is determined by the manipulation of social contacts, characterised by self-interest and distrust among business partners. Analogous to the Klondike gold rush, it appears that the car trader’s engagement with the trade is to a large extent motivated by the dream of making a fortune. Thus, even though entrepreneurial failure is widespread among African car traders, most of them remain convinced that car trading can yield significant profits.

The West African bush, whether forest or savannah, is not only inhabited by plants and animals, but also by enigmatic beings that have been called ‘mythical’ by some outside observers. One such being is the bush dwarf.
For the Bebelibe of northwestern Benin, these small and mischievous beings are known as the siyawesi. They like to come out at night, sow in peoples’ fields and take or replace grain from their granaries. Invisible to most humans, they only reveal themselves to those they choose to relate to. Despite their seemingly capricious character, the siyawesi play an important role in Bebelibe ontology and are treated with deference.
In this chapter I explore the relationship between the siyawesi and the Bebelibe. The siyawesi are important to the Bebelibe for several reasons. According to mythology, many Bebelibe recognise the siyawesi as responsible for helping them become farmers. One community in particular claims a special relationship with the bush dwarfs and community members are called the siyawesi owners. The siyawesi also play an important role in divination as they mediate between the diviner and God. Diviners, in turn, are consulted regularly, especially when problems occur. For some who have converted to Christianity, the siyawesi have become the devil’s children who deceive the diviners. Thus bush dwarfs do not disappear from Bebelibe ontology as a result of modernizing influences, but rather undergo a character transformation that reflects new ideas.

Un classique de la littérature écrite éwé, paru pour la première fois en 1949. L'histoire se passe en pays éwé (correspondant aux Togo, Ghana et Bénin actuels) à une époque qui se situe dans la nuit des temps. Ce roman est également un traité de morale dans lequel le public africain retrouve le miroir de sa culture.

All credit is due to Mr.  Sam Obianim

The history of Benin kingdom has been well documented. However, the role and place of women have not been properly analyzed. Benin women were only mentioned in different historical studies, but their lives, impacts and even sexuality has not been given adequate attention. In recent time, the history of African sexuality have become very relevant as feminist discuss had reached its peak. Moreso, sexuality study has become very relevant among Benin women as a result of her new identity as the "leaders of international sex trade" in the present day Nigeria. Some scholars have posited that Benin women are highly promiscuous while others claim that there were evident of prostitution in pre-colonial Benin. In pre-colonial Benin, women sexuality was never a subject to be discussed openly or expressed publicly. Everything about sex was done secretly and in total darkness. The question is who are these Benin women? What was their status in pre-colonial period? What sexual role did they play in the society? And most importantly what is their sexuality. The study focuses on the sexuality of pre-colonial Benin women comparing her with the post-colonial Benin women and the changes that have occurred over the years. 2

Vodou’s rites and the sacred songs that are sung in the course of their services are in Haitian Creole but they contain many lexical items that stem from West African languages like Fon, Yoruba, Ewe, and Igbo, in addition to West Central African languages like Kikongo. Lexical items with an African origin in Haitian Vodou form a significant part of the religion’s lexicon. The identification of the African lexical sources of the religion allows for hypotheses about the origins of Vodou traditions, sheds light on the history of the French slave trade, and provides clues about the ways in which Vodou took form in colonial Saint-Domingue and independent Haiti. The presence of diverse African cultural and linguistic influences in Haitian Vodou demonstrates the religion’s emergence as a system that syncretized various African traditions into a cohesive whole. This African religious fusion is especially strong in the Asogwe Vodou (Kanzo) tradition, whose stronghold is the Department of the West (i.e. Port-au-Prince and Léogâne) in Haiti. I attempt a preliminary reconstruction of the history of the syncretism of diverse African religious traditions and argue that the “African syncretism” represents the fundamental process that gave rise to Asogwe Vodou in Saint-Domingue and Haiti. I will suggest that the phenomenon of spirit migration within the rites of Haitian Vodou sheds light on the Founder Principle (Mufwene 1996): a few important spirits served in the rites that originate in the Bight of Benin have migrated into the rites of West Central African origin, a process that seems to have taken place in Haiti but draws from a deeper African tradition of spirit-migration between neighboring cultures. This process provides evidence that the religion’s founders from the Bight of Benin exerted a central influence even if pan-African religious inclusivity is a dynamic element of the system they created, Asogwe Vodou.

RESUMO Analisando a música ​ Amiga que é Amiga ​ (2017), produzida pelo DJ Perera e cantada pelo ​ MC Brisola, este artigo tem o objetivo de expor a organização musical na produção do funk. Além da análise das alturas e timbres, a análise rítmica mostra uma suposta ancestralidade afro presente no gênero, algo que, a partir das pesquisas de Carlos Palombini, Marcos Branda Lacerda e Enrique Valarelli Menezes, sugere uma relação entre a música e a organização social. Ao mesmo tempo, a análise verbal aponta, tendo como referência as ideias da pesquisadora Diana Deutsch, para a importância da repetição verbal para a escuta musical. Assim, a justificativa deste artigo é buscar formas de compreensão do funk, manifestação presente na vida de muitos jovens brasileiros. PALAVRAS-CHAVE Funk. Música afro-brasileira. Videoclipe. ​ MC​ Brisola. ​ DJ​ Perera. ABSTRACT Analyzing the Amiga que é Amiga (2017) produced by DJ Perera and sung by MC Brisola this article aims to expose the way to make music in the production of funk. In addition to the analysis of notes and timbres the rhythmic analysis shows a supposed Afro ancestry present in the genre, based on the research of Carlos Palombini, Marcos Branda Lacerda and Enrique Valarelli Menezes. This ancestry exposes the relationship between music and social organization. The verbal analysis points, with reference to the ideas of researcher Diana Deutsch, to the importance of verbal repetition for listening to music. Thus, the justification of this article is to look for ways to understand funk, a manifestation present in the lives of many young Brazilians.

Vodun is an important religion in Benin, with roots going back to the precolonial kingdom of Danxome and persisting to the present day. However, it has at times been treated as backwards, especially during the French colonial regime in the first half of the 20th century and the Marxist-Leninist regime in the 1970s and 1980s. Since the 1990s, however, it has been embraced as an important part of Benin’s cultural heritage.
Differing perspectives on Vodun raise questions about its role in the country’s economic development. This paper begins by briefly introducing Vodun and its role in Beninese society over time. It then examines the religion’s relationship to development at the individual, communal, and national levels. At the individual level, this paper considers the religion’s role in spending, saving, and dealing with redistributive pressure. At the communal level, this paper will examine the effect of Vodun in such areas as public health, the environment, and gender equity in education. Finally, it will discuss the implications of the emphasis on Vodun at the national level for the purposes of tourism. Overall, it finds that the role of Vodun in many of these areas is ambiguous, sometimes supporting and at other times opposing development efforts, most likely due to heterogeneity in the practice of the religion across space and time.

Focusing on the ways in which evangelical movements appropriate space, this article analyses the current dynamics of Christian expansion in Cotonou (Benin). Religious actors use all the opportunities the city offers in terms of space, as they invest more and more sites with evangelical symbols. A double process is at play: on the one hand, the dynamics of these highly volatile and scattered sites, which are overrun by religious manifestations and give the impression that the whole city is being proselytized and, on the other, the valorisation of sites of worship as symbols of permanency and settlement for religious entrepreneurs. The paper concentrates on three processes: the centrality of sites of worship as the main framework of religious activity; the fragmentation of sites of proselytism which results in the presence of Christian actors in places that have no worshiping dimension and that were initially dedicated to other types of social activities; finally, the dilution of spaces of proselytism leading to the occupation of collective sites as well as the private sphere (squares, streets, concessions).
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Cet article étudie les dynamiques de l’expansion chrétienne à Cotonou (Bénin) à partir des modes d’appropriation de l’espace par les expressions évangéliques contemporaines. Les acteurs religieux utilisent toutes les opportunités que leur offre la ville en termes d’espace : de plus en plus de lieux sont investis par des acteurs et des symboles évangéliques. Un double processus est à l’œuvre : d’un côté une dynamique d’éclatement et de volatilité des espaces investis par le religieux, comme si la ville entière constituait un terrain de prosélytisme, de l’autre une logique de valorisation des lieux de culte, symbole de permanence et d’enracinement pour les entrepreneurs religieux. Trois processus sont étudiés : la centralité des lieux de culte comme cadre principal de l’activité religieuse ; la fragmentation des lieux du prosélytisme qui se traduit par la présence d’acteurs chrétiens dans des espaces n’ayant aucune dimension cultuelle et dédiés initialement et principalement à d’autres activités sociales ; la dilution des espaces de prosélytisme, enfin, correspondant à une occupation de lieux collectifs et d’espaces privés : places, rues, concessions.

The thesis is concerned with the emergence of Nigeria as a regional power , through a study of political ' relations between Nigeria, France and selected francophone West African states between 1960 and 1975 - Ivory Coast, Niger and Benin (then Dahomey). The period of the Niogerian civil war (1967-1070) is considered of key significance in this respect.
Until 1966, Nigeria's policy substantially contributed to the preservation of francophone influence in West Africa. The first change in Nigeria's relationship with its neighbours was prompted by its disagreements with. Ivory Coast during the Nigerian civil war. Subsequently, Nigerian influence spread into francophone West Africa at the expense of that of Ivory Coast, a change stimulated by shifts in France's policy towards Africa. The study concludes with the climax of this evolution, Nigeria's decisive role in the establishment of the Economic Community of West African States in May 1975. This is seen as the embodiment of Nigeria's emergence as an active West African power, along with its corollary, the weakening of the historic francophone-anglophone division.

The study of Nigeria's changing relations with Ivory Coast in brought into sharper perspective by the inclusion of Dahomey and Niger into the analysis. Indeed, these two countries were closely bound to Nigeria in a subordinate relationship through unequal economic and social ties. Furthermore, they belonged to the core of the francophone group in Africa, for here were two of those states which, under the leadership of Ivory Coast, retained the closest links with France at the time, of their independence in 1960.

The idea of writing a play about the legendary princess
Inikpi who willingly offered herself for sacrifice as
divined by the Oracle, to ascertain victory for the Igala
people during the Igala-Bini war said to have taken
place in the early 16th century was first natured late
1983.
The challenge at provoking my creative acumen by
putting the Inikpi story into a play sprang up when I
was to submit a play for the course, Advance
Playwriting and Play creating at my final year level,
coordinated by Professor S. O. O. Amali the current Vice
Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, who was my
Head of Department and course supervisor at the
University of Jos. The play, titled "The Beloved Voice"
was in two parts. While part one was about the Igala-
Jukun war, part two concerned itself with the Igala-Bini
war and the Inikpi story. In his own words, having read
through the play, Professor Amali said "whenever and
wherever this play is being staged, do let me know"
There and then I realized the play was worth reading or
performing even outside its initial mere academic
exercise. This pregnant notion for so long a time has
given birth to this play in its present status.
The Inikpi story has for long been a hot controversial
issue when it comes to the war for which Inikpi was
sacrificed. Some early works of anthropologists,historians, and of late, some attempts by people at
drafting it into play format, have it directly, or by
implication, that princess Inikpi was sacrificed during
the Igala-Jukun war. They also contend that Ayegba
Oma-Idoko was the Ata Igala by then. These may after
all not be historically accurate.
This play, The Legendary Inikpi is a result of extensive
research work, conducted into the heart and core of the
matter; and of which the Ata Igala, His Royal Majesty
Mallam Aliyu O. Obaje, the Amanata (Senior Royal
Counselor, Late Achimugu Obaje), the Ohioga Ata
(Chief Ifa diviner to the Ata institution Abaro Akwu)
and the At'ebo (Chief priest to the Ata institution, Late
Ichifu Idu) were principal or main informants.
On the conflict of the particular war for which Inikpi
died and the misconception(?) that it was during they
Igala-Jukun war, the Ata Igala confessed when put to
task (during my interview with him) that those who
documented it as such, never “came to the source to hear
from the horse's mouth before jumping to the printing
house”. Here lies one of my contentions to disapprove
of this misleading (?) perspective. He agreed with me
that princess Inikpi was never sacrificed during the
Igala-Jukun war. It was Omodoko, Idoko's daughter
who was sacrificed by the river Inachalo bank, the Jukun
army route to Idah. Ayegba Oma-Idoko was not the Ata
Igala as at the time the Igala people were at war with the
Jukuns or Wukaris in present day Taraba State, it was Idoko, his own father. Inikpi died by life burial for the
Igala-Bini war and by the river Niger bank (where her
statute stands till today), the only route of the Bini forces
to Idah. By this time, her father, Ayegba Oma-Idoko
was the Ata Igala.
tradition (being documented), having gone through
generation, under-gone or under-going alterations,
even as some wrote out of ignorance and little or no
authenticity of claim.
glorifying tradition as it were, but in a way, rehistoricizing
history by attempting to give the lnikpi
case a prominent place and in a special way never done
before. How successful this attempt is or will be,
depends on the reader and his understating.

RESUME
Cette étude examine les déterminants de la complétude vaccinale des enfants de moins de cinq ans au Bénin et vise à contribuer à l’amélioration de l’état de santé de ces derniers et à la diminution de la mortalité infanto-juvénile. Nous sommes partis du constat selon lequel le taux d’enfants de 12 à 59 mois complètement vaccinés est faible (36,6%).
A la lumière des théories et travaux de recherche déjà réalisés, nous avons supposé que les chances de vaccination complète des enfants de moins de cinq ans sont de façon prépondérante déterminées par les facteurs liés au contexte de résidence de la mère de l’enfant, à son modèle culturel, ses caractéristiques individuelles, sa culture sanitaire, les caractéristiques socioéconomiques de son ménage et les caractéristiques individuelles de l’enfant. Quelques hypothèses spécifiques ont également été formulées. Pour les tester, nous avons utilisé les données de l’Enquête Démographique et de Santé de 2006 du Bénin  en recourant à une analyse descriptive, une analyse exploratoire et une analyse explicative.
Les résultats indiquent que les variables les plus déterminantes dans l’explication de la complétude vaccinale des enfants de moins de cinq ans sont le département de résidence de la mère, l’ethnie de la mère, le niveau de vie du ménage, le nombre de consultations prénatales de la mère, le milieu de socialisation et le niveau d’instruction de la mère. Il est également ressorti que le taux de complétude vaccinale de l’enfant s’améliore à mesure que le niveau d’instruction, le nombre de consultations prénatales de sa mère et le niveau de vie du ménage dans lequel il vit sont élevés. Notons qu’il n’existe pas de différences en matière de sexe en terme de complétude vaccinale des enfants de moins de cinq ans.
De ces résultats, quelques recommandations ont été formulées. Nous avons tout particulièrement proposé d’améliorer le niveau de complétude vaccinale des enfants de moins de cinq ans en menant des actions de sensibilisation envers les mères et les jeunes filles grâce à l’utilisation des medias de proximité. Nous avons également proposé qu’une enquête qualitative soit réalisée afin de comprendre le comportement vaccinal de la population et de l’améliorer.
Mots - clés : Vaccination, complétude vaccinale, enquête démographique et de santé, mortalité.
ABSTRACT
This study examines the determinants of the completeness of vaccination of children under five in Benin and aims to contribute to improving their health status as well as a decrease in child mortality. We started from the observation that the rate of fully immunized children aged 12 to 59 months is low (36.6%).
According to theories and research already done, we assumed that the chances of full immunization of children under five are predominantly determined by factors related to the places where the mother lives, her culture, her personal characteristics, her health background, the socio-economic characteristics of her household and the individual characteristics of the child. Some specific assumptions have also been made. To test all the hypotheses, we used data from the Demographic and Health Survey held in Benin in 2006 using a descriptive analysis, an exploratory analysis and explanatory analysis.
The results indicate that the most critical variables which explain the completeness of immunization of children under five years are the department of residence of the mother, her ethnic group, the living standards of her household, the number of antenatal visits she had, her place of socialization and her education level. We also realized that the completion rate of a child immunization improves as the level of education, number of prenatal visits of his mother and the living standards of the household in which he is living is high. Note that there are no differences in gender in terms of completeness of immunization of children under five.
From these results, some recommendations have been made. We specifically proposed to improve the completeness of vaccination of children under five years by conducting campaigns addressed to mothers and young girls through local media. We have also suggested that a qualitative survey was conducted to understand and improve the population as far as vaccination of children under five is concerned in Benin.
Keywords: Vaccination, completeness of vaccination, demographic and health survey, mortality.

This article integrates the dynamics within authoritarian elites into analysis of democratization in Sub-Saharan Africa. This variable has been excluded from nearly all analysis on the subject. Based on a comparison of three cases, this article concludes that only in cases where popular mobilization was accompanied by deep divisions within the ruling coalition did democratization ensue. The division of the authoritarian coalition in Benin and South Africa created a window of opportunity which enabled pro-democracy forces to push through democratic reforms. Furthermore, only when a majority of the authoritarian elite in South Africa favoured negotiations with the African National Congress and other anti-apartheid political organizations did the transition towards democracy in South Africa make any progress. In contrast, in the Togolese case, a united ruling coalition precluded any reform that would have challenged its political hegemony.

Missionaries have usually responded to witchcraft beliefs either by denying their existence or by diabolizing them. Contemporary cultural anthropology shows that especially in Pentecostalism these beliefs are demonized and thus linked to the devil as part of a moral dualism. In spite of this demonization, the belief in good witchcraft often continues to exist, even though it is stigmatized and thus not addressed in churches. This article analyses the life story and testimony of a male witch who has converted to Christianity and now considers himselfa “witch of God.” His example challenges missionaries to rethink the meaning and the importance of witchcraft beliefs in African Christianity.

With Arnauld Aguidissou, Aïché Bâ, Tidiane Cissé, Djibril Diouf, Amadou Mamadou Djigo, Mahamoudou Djittèye, Godefroy Marie Julien Gaméné, N’guessan Kanga, Mohamed Khattar, Aristide Kodjahon, Tamba Ngom, Issa Sylla, Kossi Toto, Christian Paulin Zouré. The English Language in Francophone West Africa examines the language situations in eight West African nations – Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal and Togo – in order to identify the roles that English plays in those countries. It then describes the ways in which English is taught, who teaches it, how learners and their teachers perceive the language and what opportunities there are for people in the region who wish to take up English teaching as a career. The book is based on research commissioned by the British Council and carried out by a team of 14 English teachers and trainers from across the region. The team was co-ordinated by Hywel Coleman, Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the School of Education, University of Leeds.