DAHOMEY SOUNDS IN THE NIGHT LEAPING FROM HIS BED ONE NIGHT LAST 
JANUARY, DAHOMEY'S PRESIDENT HUBERT MAGA EXCITEDLY TELEPHONED MILITARY HEADQUARTERS TO REPORT 
THAT HIS RESIDENCE WAS BEING SHELLED . HE SOON WENT BACK 
TO SLEEP . AS IT TURNED OUT, THE TOUGH, JOLLY, FORMER 
SCHOOLTEACHER HAD BEEN AROUSED BY THE CLATTER OF WINDBLOWN COCONUTS PELTING 
DOWN ON THE MANSION'S TIN ROOF . LAST WEEK THE SOUNDS 
IN THE NIGHT CAME FROM REAL GUNFIRE AS ANGRY MOBS SWEPT 
THROUGH THE FORMER FRENCH WEST AFRICA COLONY, LOCATED BETWEEN TOGO AND 
NIGERIA ON THE GULF OF GUINEA . IN COTONOU, THE CAPITAL, 
AND NEARBY PORTONOVO, THE RAGGED CROWDS CARRIED BLACKDRAPED COFFINS AND CHANTED 
WAR SONGS AS THEY RANSACKED GOVERNMENT OFFICES, BURNED CARS, HAULED DOWN 
THE GREEN, YELLOW AND RED NATIONAL FLAG FROM PUBLIC BUILDINGS, AND 
DEMANDED MAGA'S OUSTER . BARIBA TRIBESMEN FROM MAGA'S NATIVE NORTHERN REGION 
LEAPED INTO THE FRAY IN HIS DEFENSE AND KILLED TWO DEMONSTRATORS 
WITH BOWS AND ARROWS . FINALLY THE PRESIDENT RESIGNED IN FAVOR 
OF COLONEL CHRISTOPHE SOGLO, COMMANDER OF DAHOMEY'S 800-MAN ARMY, WHO BECAME 
HEAD OF STATE AND PROMPTLY SUSPENDED THE CONSTITUTION . SQUANDERMANIA . 
IT WAS THE LATEST IN A SERIES OF COUPS THAT HAVE 
SHAKEN AFRICA'S NEW NATIONS, INCLUDING DAHOMEY'S NEIGHBOR, TOGO, WHERE PRESIDENT SYLVANUS 
OLYMPIO WAS ASSASSINATED LAST JANUARY, AND THE FORMER FRENCH CONGO, WHOSE 
PRESIDENT FULBERT YOULOU WAS DEPOSED IN AUGUST (THE EX-BELGIAN CONGO ALSO 
WITNESSED A NEAR-COUP THREE WEEKS AGO) . PLOTS HAVE BEEN UNCOVERED 
IN SENEGAL, CHAD AND THE IVORY COAST . THE SOURCES OF 
TROUBLE ARE ESSENTIALLY THE SAME IN ALL THE COUNTRIES INVOLVED : 
MORIBUND ECONOMIES, VAST NUMBERS OF UNEMPLOYED, STRONG AND HOSTILE LABOR UNIONS 
. IN DAHOMEY (POP . 2,200,000), THE SITUATION IS AGGRAVATED BY 
THE FACT THAT IT ONCE SUPPLIED CIVIL SERVANTS FOR MANY OTHER 
FRENCH COLONIES AND BOASTED THAT " BRAINS ARE OUR BIGGEST EXPORT 
" ; NOW IT HAS AN INCREASINGLY SERIOUS WHITE-COLLAR UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM, 
FOR NEWLY INDEPENDENT WEST AFRICAN NATIONS TRAINED THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS 
. THE DAHOMEY RIOTERS ALSO DENOUNCED PRESIDENT MAGA'S " SQUANDERMANIA, / 
NOTABLY THE MAGNIFICENT PALACE HE BUILT HIMSELF FOR $3,000,000 . ON 
THE WARPATH . COLONEL SOGLO, 54, WHO HAS SPENT MOST OF 
HIS ADULT YEARS AS A PROFESSIONAL SOLDIER IN THE FRENCH ARMY, 
INCLUDED HIS FRIEND MAGA IN THE INTERIM GOVERNMENT AS FOREIGN MINISTER 
. HE IS TRYING HARD TO BALANCE HIS GOVERNMENT BETWEEN THE 
UNIONS, WHICH STILL HOWL FOR MAGA'S COMPLETE REMOVAL, AND THE NORTHERN 
BARIBA TRIBESMEN, WHO ARE ON THE WARPATH TO WIN MAGA'S COMPLETE 
REINSTATEMENT . THOUGH MASSIVE FRENCH AID HELPED THE NEW NATIONS IN 
THE AREA TO ACHIEVE A MEASURE OF ECONOMIC PROGRESS AND POLITICAL 
STABILITY, DAHOMEY AND THE OTHER FRENCH COLONIES ARE NOW THREATENED WITH 
TRIBAL AND SECTIONAL WARS THAT COULD SPREAD DISORDER THROUGH MUCH OF 
WEST AFRICA . 