Émile Derlin Zinsou

Émile Derlin Zinsou (23 March 1918 – 28 July 2016) was a Beninese politician and physician who was the President of Dahomey (now Benin) from 17 July 1968 until 10 December 1969, supported by the military regime that took power in 1967. Zinsou was present at the signing of the treaty that formed the African Union on 12 July 2000 in Togo. He was a nationalist.

Biography Early life and medical career Zinsou was born in Ouidah on 23 March 1918. He was educated at Porto-Novo and the Ecole William Ponty in Senegal. He studied medicine at the Dakar Medical College and qualified as a doctor. Zinsou was a physician in the French army from 1939 to 1940. Afterwards he operated a private practice and began to become involved in colonial politics.

Political career and presidency Zinsou was one of the founders of Dahomey's first political party, the Union Progressiste Dahoméenne (UPD).

He served in the French senate from 1955 to 1958, joining the Independents d'Outre-Mer. While a senator, Zinsou developed a close bond with future President of Senegal Léopold Sédar Senghor. Zinsou was a deputy to Dahomey's Territorial (later National) Assembly and was Minister of Commerce during the "loi-cadre" liberalization period of 1958 to 1959. He did not want to see the breakup of France's African colonies after independence and was the secretary of the Dakar-based Parti du Regroupement Africain (PRA). Zinsou broke with Apithy in 1959 after Apithy backed out of the idea of a Mali Federation, one of the PRA's chief proposals. Zinsou received a mere 3 percent of votes in the 1970 presidential election and rejected an offer to join the presidential council. Instead, he opted to move to Paris.

Later life and death He is said to have opposed the one-party Marxist policies of Mathieu Kérékou, who ruled Benin from 1972 to 1990. On 17 March 1975, following an attempted coup led by Janvier Assogba, Zinsou was accused of being complicit. He was sentenced to death in absentia.

Zinsou was, as of 2007, the Honorary President of the National Union for Democracy and Progress political party. In January 2006, he announced his support for Yayi Boni in the March 2006 presidential election. Zinsou, like other world leaders of the time, contributed to a disc left on the surface of the Moon by the astronauts of Apollo 11. Zinsou died in his home on 28 July 2016 in Cotonou, Benin. He was 98 years old.