Benin: Soldiers shoot at protesters in post-election unrest
By DW
03 May 2019 |
10:34 am
Footage of the demonstrations shows security services firing their guns and water cannons at crowds. Activists have warned of deteriorating freedoms in the long-stable West African nation.
In this article
Related
12 Oct 2021
Suspected militants have killed five soldiers in Indian-administered Kashmir amid a spike in violence in the region. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
24 Oct 2021
Valentina Alexandre is a history teacher and tour guide in the United States. The young woman was born in Haiti and traveled to Benin to learn more about her ancestry.
16 Oct 2021
A resolution is imminent in the dispute over more than 1,000 bronzes stolen from the former Kingdom of Benin. Germany wants to return all the objects to Nigeria.
23 Oct 2021
Guatemalan riot police are deployed as former soldiers storm the rear area of Congress on and torch several vehicles in protest over unpaid compensation for their service during the country's civil war from 1960 to 1996.
24 Oct 2021
Benin is one of the few countries on the African continent to legalise abortion for most circumstances. The law was passed on Wednesday night following a debate in Parliament, but still needs to be ratified by the constitutional court before it takes effect.
26 Oct 2021
The injuries were mild, officials said, in the second such scuffle in three days. Poland has drastically increased its military presence at the border with Belarus as people seek to enter the EU by the thousands.
30 Oct 2021
Statues, thrones, and ceremonial hatchets are among the 26 artefacts on display at the Quai Branly museum in Paris. The week-long exhibition offers visitors the chance to see the treasures looted from the Kingdom of Dahomey before they return to Benin after 130 years in France. We learn more about the political pressure and cultural policies that brought about this historic restitution.
30 Oct 2021
Some 600 coca growers with sticks and machetes took a group of soldiers hostage earlier this week. The government has increased its efforts to eradicate coca plantations.
3 Nov 2021
In 2019 alone, militia groups recruited nearly 8000 child soldiers, some as young as six. One of the countries where children are most at risk is the Central African Republic. Deutsche Welle has visited a project aiming to rehabilitate such children.
7 Nov 2021
The different levels of government have agreed to return Benin bronzes to Nigeria. It is up in the air whether they can be exhibited as planned at the Humboldt Forum.
9 Nov 2021
Military leaders in Mali and Guinea are under pressure to follow a roadmap for elections after coups in recent years. The sanctions consist of travel bans and asset freezes.
20 Nov 2021
Dozens of artefacts are finally back home in Benin after they were looted by French colonisers more than a century ago. Also, African voices at COP26 call for a stronger stance from richer nations who are held responsible for most of the pollution driving the climate emergency. And African content creators put TikTok on the spot. The continent's online creators say the platform has overlooked them in the creation of a payment fund that only caters to US and EU influencers.
Latest
45 mins ago
The world's biggest electric car maker said on Saturday that it delivered 254,695 vehicles in the April to June period, compared with 310,048 vehicles in the preceding quarter, ending a nearly two-year-long run of record quarterly deliveries.
52 mins ago
Abortion was the subject of debate long before the fundamental right to the procedure was overturned in the United States, of course. DW checks the facts on claims made by opponents and supporters of abortion rights.
52 mins ago
This French Renaissance-style castle would probably have remained largely unknown if it hadn't become home to the secret wife of Louis XIV, Madame de Maintenon. Françoise d'Aubigné – her real name – was a woman of humble origins who is often compared to Cinderella. After Louis secretly married her, the Château de Maintenon underwent numerous transformations as she put her own stamp on it. Meanwhile, the French-style garden was designed by renowned landscape architect André Le Nôtre but was only laid out in 2013.
52 mins ago
At the most recent EU leaders’ summit last week, much of the talk was focused on the future of the European Union, particularly its potential enlargement. Varying degrees of assurances on possible membership were given to Ukraine, Moldova and to a different degree, the Western Balkans states. EU leaders gave less attention to the future of the bloc as sketched out by citizens during a year-long process called the Conference on the Future of Europe.
1 day ago
Ursula von der Leyen said Ukraine was making progress toward its goal of EU membership and needed to foster business confidence by appointing top anti-corruption officials.
1 day ago
VPN software encrypts all the data on your computer. No hacker or government will be able to decipher this encrypted traffic. Your personal information and internet traffic are safe with the use of a VPN.