STRANGE TALES FROM INSIDE LAND OF BENIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100150060-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 29, 2012
• Sequence Number: 60
• Publication Date: September 7, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/29: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100150060-2
ARTICLE APPEAR D
ON PAGE '7 / Z
Strange Tales
From Inside
Land of Benin
Strange tales are filtering out of
the steamy jungles of the Benin Re-
public, a self-identified Marxist-Le-
ninist state that might be described
as the Albania of West Africa.
Benin, a former French colony, is
a Pennsylvania-size sliver of land on
the underside of the, African hump
between Nigeria on the east and
Togo and Upper Volta on the west.
Since 1972 it has been ruled with er-
ratic oppression by a former army
major, Mathieu Kerekou, 42.
The word from the seven-member
U.S. mission in Benin is that "the
signs are good" for closer relations
with the United States, following a
cabinet shuffle by the president in
April. This is noteworthy because
Kerekou's favorite pastime used to
be denouncing Americans as "impe-
rialist pigs."
Our last ambassador there was
James Engle, who arrived in 1974
just a few days before Kerekou an-
nounced that he was making Daho-
mey, as the country was then called;-
a Marxist state, and planned to ex-
terminate the old ruling class.
Most of his intended victims man-
aged to flee the country. One who
THE WASHINGTON POST
7 September 1982
did not, according to rumor, was a
high official who was caught in bed
with Kerekou's wife and was sum-
marily executed.
Despite Kerekou's habit of calling
Engle in for long lectures on the joys
of Marxist-Leninism, coupled with
demands for more U.S. aid to "help
our self-realization as a socialist
state," the ambassador tried to get
along. But it was sometimes hard to
take the country seriously.
For example, when Kerekou an-
nounced in 1975 that Dahomey
would henceforth be known as
Benin, a top-secret document was
prepared for President Ford, stress-
ing the importance of proper pro-
nunciation in dealing with the Beni-
nese. U.S. officials should "take care
in maintaining the distinction be-
tween the 'Benin Republic' on the
one hand and 'banana' or 'benign'
republic on the other," the briefing
paper warned, explaining, "In Eng-
lish, the pronunciations are very sim-
ilar, and offense could be taken if
the nuance is missed."
On Feb. 12, 1976, Engle was sum-
moned to Kerekou's office for an au-
dience that outdid his previous ex-
periences by a country mile. He re-
lated it in a top-secret report to,
Ford, titled, "Benin-U.S. 'Diplomat-
ic' Relations." My associates Dale
Van Atta and Joseph Spear have
seen a copy of the report. Here it is
in full:
"Ambassador Engle received 'bar-
baric treatment' from Benin Pres-
ident Kerekou when summoned - to
the presidential palace Feb. 12. After
an insulting reception, the ambas-
sador was preemptorily' dismissed
from the meeting.
"The foreign minister thereafter
arranged a 'confrontation' with: -a
kangaroo committee of inquiry,
which tried to establish the ambas-
sador's incompetence and dishones-
ty.
"The ambassador feels he 'won'
whatever intellectual exchange there
was."
In the space for personal com-
ment, Engle added: "My incredible
adventures of Feb. 12 must surely be
counted among the most outrageous
experiences any American chief.'vf
mission has ever ' undergone at the
hands of the top leadership of any
government. It is reasonable and
proper at this point for the U.S. gov-
ernment to consider whether we
should remain at all in Benin."
Ford recalled Engle, and no, am.
bassador has been , sent to Benin
But Kerekou, perhaps made 'un-
easy by the attempted overthrow of
the Seychelles president by. white,
mercenaries, may have decided he'd
better patch things up with the
United States. According two oneinin-
telli
no problem for erekOu: Benin
went
"Marxist" in hones 'of getting -lt9 '
share of Moscow gold "I don't think
they knew what Marxism . is:' the
source said.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/29: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100150060-2