BENIN WRAP-UP MAY 2 - MAY 16, 2008

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

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Food Security Agency Provides Food Deficit Estimate
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3. (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.

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Local Election Results Not Yet Released
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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.

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USAID launches Girl's Education Project, PMI underway
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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.

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Challenges exist for small business development in
Benin
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8.(U) A May 14, a forum sponsored by the Ministry of Industry and
Commerce, the Benin Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIB),and

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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.

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MCC moves on land title registration and port
improvement
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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.

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Embassy kicks off project fighting sexual harassment
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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