Yayi Boni

Yayi Boni
President of Benin
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 April 2006
Prime Minister	Pascal Koupaki
Preceded by	Mathieu Kérékou
Chairperson of the African Union
Incumbent
Assumed office 29 January 2012
Preceded by	Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo
Personal details
Born	(1952-07-01) 1 July 1952 Tchaourou, Dahomey (now Benin)
Political party	Independent
Spouse(s)	Chantal Boni
Alma mater	National University of Benin Cheikh Anta Diop University University of Orléans Paris Dauphine University

Dr. Thomas Yayi Boni (born 1 July 1952) is a Beninese banker and politician who has been President of Benin since 6 April 2006. He took office after winning the March 2006 presidential election and was re-elected to a second term in March 2011. Since January 2012, he has also been Chairperson of the African Union, having been elected at the 18th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Union.

Biography

Boni was born in Tchaourou, in the Borgou Department in northern Benin, then the French colony of Dahomey. He was educated in the regional capital, Parakou, and later studied economics at the National University of Benin. He studied banking at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal, and later economics and politics at the University of Orléans in France and at Paris Dauphine University, where he completed a doctorate in economics in 1976.

From 1980 to 1988 Boni worked for the Central Bank of the States of West Africa (BCEAO), becoming its Deputy Director, based in Dakar. In 1988 he became Deputy Director for Professional Development at the West African Centre for Banking Studies, also in Dakar. From 1992 to 1994 he worked in the office of the President of Benin, Nicéphore Soglo, in charge of monetary and banking policy. Finally in 1994 he was appointed President of the West African Development Bank (BOAD). For his work on West African development he was appointed Chevalier de l'Ordre National de Mérite of the French Republic.

In the first round of the presidential elections, held on 5 March, Boni polled 32 percent. His nearest challenger, Adrien Houngbédji of the Party for Democratic Renewal, polled 25 percent. Twenty-six candidates contested the election, which was reported to have been peaceful and fair. A runoff was held between Boni and Houngbédji on 19 March; Boni won with almost 75 percent of the vote.

Originally from a Muslim family, Boni is now an Evangelical Protestant. He has five children, and his wife Chantal (née de Souza), a native of the coastal city of Ouidah, is the niece of the former military ruler Paul-Émile de Souza.

Boni was reelected in 2011, taking 53.18 percent of the vote in the first round—enough to avoid a runoff election. He is the first president to win an election without a runoff since the restoration of democracy in 1991.

Assassination attempt

Yayi Boni with the President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff

On 15 March 2007, Yayi Boni survived an ambush on his convoy near the village of Ikemon while returning from an election campaign rally in the town Ouesse for the upcoming parliamentary elections. The attackers blocked the road with downed trees, and fired upon the vehicle that usually carries the President; however President Boni was traveling in a separate vehicle. Several of his entourage were wounded in the ensuing crossfire between the presidential guard and the would-be assassins. However this information remains unproven since all sources claiming the assassination attempt come from the president's camp. The verification of such information remains impossible to date.

See also

• Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD-IV), 2008.

External links

• (French) Official site
• BBC News: Benin's new president announced
• President Bush Meets with President Yayi of Benin

Political offices
Preceded by Mathieu Kérékou	President of Benin 2006–present	Incumbent
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo	Chairperson of the African Union 2012–present	Incumbent