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Viewing cable 08COTONOU290, BENIN WRAP-UP MAY 2 - MAY 16, 2008

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
08COTONOU290 2008-05-16 06:43 2011-08-30 01:44 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Cotonou
VZCZCXRO6450
RR RUEHLMC
DE RUEHCO #0290/01 1370643
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 160643Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY COTONOU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0324
INFO RUEHLMC/MILLENIUM CHALLENGE CORP WASHDC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 COTONOU 000290 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF/W DANA BANKS 
 
E.O.12958:N/A 
TAGS: PGOVKMCAPHUMBN
SUBJECT: BENIN WRAP-UP MAY 2 - MAY 16, 2008 
 
REF: (A) COTONOU 288 (B) COTONOU 281 
 
1.(U) This cable is the first edition of a bi-weekly summary of 
events which have occurred in Benin but not been reported elsewhere. 
 Comments for improvements from readers are welcome.  Please direct 
them to Pol/Econ Officer Jason Hahn at hahnje@state.gov. 
 
2.(U) Contents: 
 
- Food Security Agency Provides Food Deficit Estimate 
- Local Election Results Not Yet Released 
- USAID launches Girl's Education Project, PMI underway 
- Challenges exist for small business development in Benin 
- MCC moves on land title registration and port improvement 
- Embassy kicks off project fighting sexual harassment 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
Food Security Agency Provides Food Deficit Estimate 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
ΒΆ3. (SBU) Benin's National Food Aid and Security Office, ONASA, 
provided the Embassy on May 15 with an estimate of Benin's food 
deficit over the coming months.  According to ONASA, Benin will have 
a deficit of 50,000 tons of corn, 20,000 tons of rice, and 3,000 
tons of beans. The Ministry of Agriculture's Secretary General told 
the embassy that Benin is formulating a request for international 
assistance in procuring fertilizer, irrigation equipment, and wells 
but not direct food aid.  The World Food Program (WFP) Coordinator 
for Food Security in Benin told Poloff the food security situation 
in Benin will not become a "catastrophe" but will be "serious", 
particularly in northern Benin.  The public remains frustrated with 
rising prices (inflation reached 5.7% in March 2008) but there is no 
indication that this frustration will turn violent or present a 
serious challenge to the government.  Please see Ref A for the full 
report. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
Local Election Results Not Yet Released 
--------------------------------------- 
 
4.(U) The National Independent Electoral Commission (CENA) is still 
proceeding with the tabulation of the results from the April 20 
municipal elections after it failed to release the results on May 6, 
as it previously announced. A source from the CENA told the embassy 
that the CENA has completed 75 percent of the tabulation. According 
to him, the delay in announcing the first results is linked to the 
fact that the President of the CENA, Pascal Todjinou, has 
established a time-consuming method to re-check the counting that 
polling stations initially did in order to avoid any 
miscalculations. The source said the CENA would publish the results 
by next week. 
 
5.(U) Pending the official results of the elections, minority 
political parties across Benin have embarked on a strategy of 
encouraging newly elected municipal councilors from Force Cowrie for 
an Emerging Benin or FCBE (the party allied with President Yayi) to 
switch parties and vote with the smaller parties to install one of 
their members as mayor. The delay in election results has slowed 
down political activities, including at the National Assembly, as 
many political actors believe that a possible cabinet reshuffle is 
contingent upon the official election results. For more reporting on 
this subject please see Ref B. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
USAID launches Girl's Education Project, PMI underway 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
6.(U) On April 21, USAID awarded a $5 million cooperative agreement 
to World Education to implement the Girls' Education and Community 
Participation Project. This five-year activity will increase girls' 
access to and continuing enrollment in schools in areas where the 
gap in the number of girls and boys in school is most pronounced. 
 
7.(U) Implementation of the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) is 
underway.  USAID handed over drugs for malaria treatment funded 
under PMI to the Ministry of Health at the end of April.  Drugs, 
including artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) and 
sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP), are to be distributed in all of the 
country's health zones. Drugs to treat 1,073,000 malaria cases and 
SP tablets to provide intermittent preventive treatment to 183,300 
pregnant women were delivered to the national health commodities 
supply system. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
Challenges exist for small business development in 
Benin 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
8.(U) A May 14, a forum sponsored by the Ministry of Industry and 
Commerce, the Benin Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIB), and 
 
COTONOU 00000290  002 OF 002 
 
 
MCA-Benin under the theme "Formalization of micro, small and medium 
scale businesses in Benin" illustrated that Benin has a long way to 
go to formalize its informal economy. Participants at the forum, 
attended by EconOff, highlighted the weaknesses of the Center for 
Business Creation (CFE), run by the CCIB.  According to the 
participants, the difficulties related to the registration of a 
company with CFE include poor management, time consuming procedures 
which are still decentralized in various ministries, and high costs. 
The participants agreed that after ten years of existence, CFE's 
performance is far below expectations. Also drawing criticism was 
the GOB's complex tax policy which, according to attendees, was the 
prime reason that businesses do not register.   According to the 
World Bank's Doing Business ratings, Benin is ranked 151 out of 178 
countries in terms of the delay in the processing of a new business 
registration. It takes over 31 days to get a company registered in 
Benin while it takes 21 days in Niger and Ghana. Forum hosts intend 
to use forum recommendations to improve the organization of business 
registration services in Benin. 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
MCC moves on land title registration and port 
improvement 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
9.(U) MCA-Benin moved forward on its program to bring formalization 
of land titles to 300 rural villages. On May 13, MCC Resident 
Director Lee Roussel helped open a week of training for over 70 
local agents who will soon be starting surveys of the inhabitants of 
the first eighty villages.  Based on the lively questions on the 
first day, each of these participants are only too familiar with 
their communities and the many obstacles and problems that this 
program will resolve. 
 
10.(U) MCA-Benin will soon take the first step towards the 
procurement of a total of over $150 million in construction and 
equipment contracts to modernize the Port of Cotonou.  The first 
invitation to vendors expected to be issued in the next 60 days will 
result in the "short list."  Those firms on the short list will be 
eligible to respond to the Request for Proposals expected to be 
issued early in 2009 after all feasibility and environmental studies 
are complete. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
Embassy kicks off project fighting sexual harassment 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
11.(U) The PolOff, joined by the FSN Political Assistant and 
Self-Help Coordinator launched, on May 15, a project which will 
combat sexual harassment in schools. Forty teachers from secondary 
schools in the Zou and Collines departments are attending the 
two-day training, which will inform the teachers on Benin's sexual 
harassment laws and enable them to share that information with other 
teachers when they return to their schools.  The Embassy's Democracy 
and Human Rights fund provided funding to Women In Law and 
Development in Africa, an NGO, to conduct the training. The opening 
ceremony was well covered by radio, television, and print 
journalists. 
 
BOUSTANI