Maga, Hubert

Related Category: African History: Biographies

(übâr´ mä´gä), 1916–, political leader in Dahomey (now Benin). A teacher, he became active in politics and was (1951–58) a representative in the French national assembly. When Dahomey achieved independence (1960), he became its first president. The country's deteriorating economy led (1963) to his removal in a coup, and he later went into exile. He subsequently returned and served (1970–72) as head of a rotating three-man presidential commission designed to reduce domestic turmoil. The trio's ineffectiveness, however, led to their overthrow and imprisonment by Maj. Mathieu Kérékou. Maga was released with the others in 1981.