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The Alliance for a Sustainable Democracy in Africa (ASDA), a pressure group in Benin, calls on the international community to engage in the ongoing political unrest in the country before the entire West African sub-region be immersed in chaos.
The Alliance warned that the number of people forced to escape military brutality was increasing day by day and pointed out that if the world does not stop the phenomenon, a large-scale humanitarian crisis could occur. trigger.
ASDA President, Mr Prosper Ladislas Agbesi, has issued this warning at a press conference in Accra on the political crisis in Benin.
The tiny West African state has witnessed post-election violence and security forces have been put on high alert after several days of violence in clashes between armed and unarmed civilians in the streets of Cotonou .
The unrest followed the April general election, which barred opposition party candidates from handing a blank check to President Patrice Talon's government to fill the legislature with virtually unnamed candidates.
Opposition parties called for the cancellation of the parliamentary elections because they were unrepresentative and led to street demonstrations that armed soldiers tried to suppress, resulting in clashes with civilians.
Mr. Prosper Agbesi has appealed to the United Nations, the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the European Union ( EU) so that they do not expect the situation to deteriorate before intervening because the Beninese people are suffering under President Iron Talon's rule of iron.
According to him, human history has consistently demonstrated that the current situation in Benin suggests an imminent bloodbath and stressed: "While the people of Benin have only moral weapons and ammunition, the forces to which he opposes possess all the physical weapons and the will to use them without constraint. "
"The people are determined to bring their country out of the emerging autocracy, but it is running up against a ruthless dictator who has openly breached the constitutional rule and respect for fundamental freedoms and who is continually showing his willingness to use the armed force to enforce his will. "
"The Republic of Benin and its people are going through a difficult period, spread by good democratic governance, the rule of law, social justice, human rights and the improvement of the standard of living."
The president of ASDA argued that the only way to avoid President Talon's candidacy for autocratic rule and bring Benin back to normal without sacrificing valuable Beninese lives is to apply non-violent pressure.
He said: "This means a combination of pbadive civil disobedience at home and international pressure in the form of sanctions."
Benin, he said, has a small economy that is highly dependent on economic badistance and therefore subject to economic sanctions to achieve the desired results.
"For example, Benin is heavily dependent on Ghana for its electricity supply. It is also highly dependent on transit trade and re-exports to its landlocked neighbors for its economic performance. "
Mr Prosper Agbesi, however, noted that strictly targeted sanctions would have a more rapid effect and called for Talon and some members of his government to be targeted.
The opposition in Benin, he said, hopes that the change of government at the executive level will be followed by new general elections open to all, accompanied by a restoration of civil liberties gradually eroded since the beginning of the elections. entry into office of President Talon.
He called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and President Mahammadu Buhari of Nigeria to use their esteem to restore Benin on the road to democracy and save innocent Beninese from distress and mbadacres.
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