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KONRAD ADENAUER STIFTUNG AFRICAN LAW STUDY LIBRARY Volume 17 Edited by Hartmut Hamann and Ibrahim Salami Hartmut Hamann is a lawyer specialized in providing legal support for international projects between states and private companies, and in international arbitration proceedings. He is a professor at the Freie Universität Berlin, and at the Chemnitz University of Technology, where he teaches public international law and conflict resolution. His legal and academic activities often take him to Africa. (e-mail: [email protected]) Ibrahim SALAMI teaches public law at the University of Abomey Calavi (Benin) and is director of the Center of Administrative Law and Territorial Administration (C.D.A.T.). He is interested in human rights and constitutional development in Africa. He is a lawyer with special interest in public law, constitutional and political issues and democratic governance. He has been co- working on seminars concerning the rule of law organised with the Konrad- Adenauer Foundation. (e-mail: [email protected]) Konrad Published By: Adenauer Stiftung Rule of Law Program for Sub-Saharan Africa AFRICAN LAW STUDY LIBRARY Vol 17 A Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Office : Mbaruk Road, Hse, No. 27 P.O. Box 66471-00800 Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya Tel: 254 20 272 59 57, 261 0021, 261 0022 Fax: 254 20 261 0023 Email: [email protected] Head Office : Klingelhöferstr. 23 D-10785 Berlin Tel.: 030/269 96-0 Fax: 030/269 96-3217 www.kas.de © Konrad Adenauer Stiftung & Authors, Dec 2013 ISBN: 978-9966-021-13-7 Typeset & Printing by:- LINO TypeSeTTeRS (K) LTD P.O. Box 44876-00100 GPO Email: [email protected] Nairobi-Kenya All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission by the publisher. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. B AFRICAN LAW STUDY LIBRARY Vol 17 TABLe OF CONTeNTS FOReWORD i ________________________________________________________________________________ RURAL LAND ReFORM IN THe RepUBLIC OF BeNIN By Valérie HOUANGNI 1 ________________________________________________________________________________ THe RIGHT TO DeMONSTRATe IN BeNIN By Simone K. HONVOU 19 ________________________________________________________________________________ WHAT ReMAINS OF THe RIGHT TO STRIKe IN BeNIN? By Accorédé Bachard LIAMIDI 35 ________________________________________________________________________________ WHAT IS THe STATUS OF THe OppOSITION IN THe RepUBLIC OF BeNIN? By pierre e. TOGBe 65 ________________________________________________________________________________ INTeRNATIONAL OBSeRVATION OF eLeCTIONS AND eLeCTORAL ASSISTANCe IN AFRICA By Iréné ACLOMBeSSI 85 AFRICAN LAW STUDY LIBRARY Vol 17 C STAKeHOLDeRS OF THe eLeCTORAL pROCeSS IN BeNIN By Melle Caludia TOGBE YEWADAN 102 ________________________________________________________________________________ pUBLIC WATeR SUppLY IN BeNIN: LeGAL FRAMeWORK AND RIGHT TO ACCeSS By Fiacre Sourou LOKO HOUNKpATIN 117 ________________________________________________________________________________ LeGISTATION OF THe INTANGIBLe CULTURAL HeRITAGe (ICH) IN BeNIN By Guy A. ONAMBeLe 135 ________________________________________________________________________________ ILLeGAL DISTRIBUTION OF peTROLeUM pRODUCTS – LeGAL FRAMeWORK, CURReNT ASpeCTS By Baï Irène Aimée KOOVI 153 D AFRICAN LAW STUDY LIBRARY Vol 17 KONRAD ADENAUER STIFTUNG AFRICAN LAW STUDY LIBRARY VOLUME 17 FOREWORD The rule of law can be compared to a building which is constantly under construction. It is not unusual that its foundations not only undergo political storms but also the irreducible aspiration of the people of Benin for the betterment of the rule of law. Unlike western democracies, which were with time, able to show and renew their understanding of the rule of law without pointless boastfulness, Africa like a young man in his twenties is still looking for her reference, her marks, on the route towards democracy and is somehow expressing her thirst for autonomy and her desire to assert herself in this field. In Africa, Benin is a perfect illustration which could rightly or wrongly be referred to as the laboratory of African democracy or its rebirth. The only problem is that the democratic health of this country is far from being in good state. It is suffering from long-lasting ailments which are likely to compromise the dynamics which are essential in entrenching the rule of law. It is therefore in the perspective of having a better understanding of the rules of the democratic game, understanding its practice and the excesses which we can afford to have in purely Beninese context, that this and the second seminar on the Rule of law was initiated. This volume of the « African Law Study Library» co-edited by the Centre for Administrative Law and Territorial Administration (CeDAT) is the product of contributions produced by young legal researchers of the University of Abomey-Calavi with the financial and technical assistance of Konrad Adenauer Foundation. These young doctorate students (two have in the meantime defended their theses), wrote on various and relevant subjects, in line with the appropriate methodological rules, under our direction. After analyzing different contributions in accordance with the framework of this second seminar, two major avenues can be identified, namely the question of enjoyment of civil and political rights on the one hand, and the implementation of economic, social and cultural rights on the other hand. On the issue pertaining to enjoyment of civil and political rights, from the perspective of civil rights, rural land reforms in the Republic of Benin comes into question. If the Act of 14th January 2013 brought about a series of corrections to the Beninese Land Regime, we can nevertheless doubt the completeness of the ambition of the law maker who without really reaching it gives the impression of having preserved the dualism which has reigned in this matter. From the angle of public freedoms, it is the freedom to demonstrate and the right to strike which are illustrated, with triumph of force over law or over passion. As pertains to political freedoms, interest is put on the existence or non-existence of a status of opposition in Benin. In actual fact, if it is completed on normative level, the status of the opposition, in its current state, does not give real means to opposition parties to make the contribution expected of them within the framework of multiparty system of democracy. Other fields like international observation of elections and the problems arising out of organization of elections have not been overlooked. AFRICAN LAW STUDY LIBRARY Vol 17 i On the implementation of economic, social and cultural rights, three major concerns have been raised, it mainly pertains to access to water provided by the State, illegal distribution of petroleum products and the protection of the intangible cultural heritage of Benin. Concerning access to water, the necessity to effectively decentralize basic public services and to open the sector of water distribution to private companies was emphasized. As for illegal distribution of petroleum products, the difficult encountered in controlling this informal sector of the economy in Benin is obvious in view of the various measures taken in trying to control it. The third research is a contribution to the rationale for the compliance of the provisions of the legislation of Benin with the international law. Ultimately, these contributions by young Beninese researchers had the merit of diagnosing some ills which bedevil the fragile health of democracy and propose solutions which will restore it so that power remains with the law. Hartmut Hamann Ibrahim Salami ii AFRICAN LAW STUDY LIBRARY Vol 17 RURAL LAND REFORM IN THE REPUBLIC OF BENIN By Valérie HOUANGNI* SUMMARY The Act of 14th January 2013 is the culmination of a series of corrections made to the Benin land regime since 1993 that is at the beginning of experimentation by Benin on the mechanisms for rule of law and democracy. This law calls for the unification of the laws governing and restructuring Beninese land regime. We can nevertheless doubt the completeness of the task. The review of the application of this new regime to rural land is the place to take cognizance of the will to respect local practices shown by the law maker, but how do you respect local practices without maintaining a dualism or without deceiving oneself? These are the consequences of legislative “window-dressing’’ in the rural areas which were discussed in the article on “Land Reforms in Rural Areas in the Republic of Benin’’. INTRODUCTION Rural land refers to all land under agricultural, pastoral, forestry, fishing activities or meant to be put under either one of the aforementioned activities1. Over the last thirty years Benin has experienced an increase in agricultural settlement referred to as “settlement of migrants in a personal capacity on a rural area which is vacant and favorable for agricultural activities”2. Even if the convergence areas for this migration which are the latitudes of Dassa-Zoumè in the hills and the Sub-prefecture of Bembérék in Borgou3 have become the granary of Benin for a number of products, there are more and more brewing and open conflicts between the foreigners (agriculturalists) and the natives, especially in the hills4. Benin,