| Confederation of Socialist West African Nations | |
|---|---|
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| Formation | 2011 |
| Type | Beninist/Socialist Organisation |
| Headquarters | Karimama (directly on the border between PR Benin and Republic of Upper Volta) |
| Membership | The People's Republic of Benin (Yellow) and The Republic of Upper Volta (Red) |
History of the Confederation[]
The Confederation of Socialist West African Nations began life as a trade agreement between the two founding members in 2008. The Confederation was founded in 2011,
Currently the population of the Confederation stands at roughly 14,200,000 people.
Founding members:
Prospective Members:
- Revolutionary Republic of Liberia - applied in early 2012.
Principles behind the Confederation[]
The main principle behind the confederation is Beninism.
In the People's Republic of Benin, the Marxism of the 1970's had formed into the Marxism-Beninism of the pre-DD 1980's, and had further morphed into an independent form -Beninism a much milder version of Marxism by the mid 1990's, meaning that:
- The production of items (either agricultural or industrial) is carried out to directly produce use-value (to satisfy direct human needs, or economic demands) as opposed to being produced with a view to generating a profit.
- The majority of businesses are either public owned and run (by the state) or by cooperative ownership (by a worker cooperative enterprise) - this had already been encouraged within The People's Republic of Benin since 1990 (before the National Conference of 1990, it had been compulsory).
The Republic of Upper Volta began using Beninism in the late 1990's and had fully integrated the system into that nation by 2003.
Upon signing the Confederation agreement:
- Both the founding nations agreed to share all military assets and also agreed that in the event of an invasion by a foreign nations that they would assist each other in defence of their nations.
- All export and import taxes between the two nations are to be abolished.
- To spread Beninism to any nation that could accept it, expected to start in 2012 with The Revolutionary Republic of Liberia after their application to join the Confederation.
The motto of the Confederation is "Solidarity Forever."
The government of the People's Republic of Benin has been pushing the government of the Republic of Upper Volta to hold an overdue election for the last two years, President Yé has so far ignored any attempts by the Beninian government.
Joint Governance[]
To aid administration of the Confederation both governments have agreed to share some parts of their internal governmental departments, they include:
- Trade Ministry - Dealing with the import and export of goods from the Confederation.
- Economic Development Ministry - To increase the number and variety of businesses in the Confederation.
- Agriculture and Irrigation Ministries - To improve the level of agricultural technology across the Confederation.
- Education Ministry - In order to determine a level for child education across the two nations (expected to be full education until the age of 12)
- Unified Confederation Army - Benin currently has a Navy, they will continue to run that.
Confederation Army[]
The Confederation army was founded in 2011 with the signing of the Confederation agreement by the two founding members, the army is made up of the combined armies of both nations.
It totals 3,600 men spread over twelve divisions of 300 men, each division is divided into three units of 100 men.
There is conscription in the Confederation, in the event of a war or invasion the Confederation can call up every able bodied man between the ages of 16 and 35, if that occurs the conscripted Confederation army would total roughly 47,000 men.
International Relations[]
The Confederation has close links with the Confederation of African Marxist Countries, as well as the potential member The Revolutionary Republic of Liberia
The Confederation is also a regional partner of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), joining in late 2011.
Prospective member - Revolutionary Republic of Liberia (RRL)[]
The Revolutionary Republic of Liberia applied to join the Confederation in early 2012, in March 2012 teams arrived from the Confederation to assess the RRL for possible membership of the Confederation.
The delegates discover that President Johnstone has many ideas for the future of the RRL, many are described by the teams as fanciful at best, deluded at worse. Although the nation and the government have met any requirements set out by the Confederation it is doubtful that the RRL will join the Confederation in the near future due to the doubt over the mental state of President Johnstone.
The Benin delegation also note the dramatic fixing of the previous elections and the stance of the RRL to WAU member states, in particular to Ivory Coast as standing against the RRL's application.
In early April 2012 the Confederation delegation returned to the Confederation headquarters in Karimama, Peoples Republic of Benin to discuss the RRL's application to join the Confederation.
The results of the application were announced in early May 2012.
The results were as follows:
The application for the Revolutionary Republic of Liberia to join the Confederation of Socialist West African Nations has been declined due to the following reasons:'
- Inability to prove education facilities for children up to 12 years old
- Inability to prove total governmental control over the military of the nation
- Inability to prove that any profits from business or trade have not been co-opted by leadership of the RRL.
- Lack of total governmental control over full area claimed by RRL
- Aggressive military stance towards the WAU
The Revolutionary Republic of Liberia is welcome to re-apply once these problems have been resolved