UN special representative for West Africa welcomes peaceful elections in Benin

A senior United Nations envoy to West Africa today praised the peaceful conduct of Benin’s weekend elections while voicing hope that the constitutional process will bear fruit in the planned transfer of power next month.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Special Representative for West Africa, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, congratulated the people of Benin “for their orderly and disciplined behaviour since the beginning of the process” and said their conduct testifies to the country’s important status “in the march towards democracy in Africa.”

In a statement issued in Dakar, Mr. Ould Abdallah expressed hope “that the exemplary behaviour of the people of Benin during the Sunday polls will accompany the process until its ultimate ending, with the peaceful and constitutional handing over of power on 6 April 2006.”

He also hailed the current leadership, saying President Mathieu Kerekou’s expertise “will surely continue to be valuable to the African continent, beyond his well accomplished mission as Head of State.”