Aside from the fact that it was the place where Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton filmed Graham Greene's novel, The Comedians, Dahomey's chief claim to notoriety is its penchant for coups d'état. Since 1963, the tiny West African state (pop. 2,500,000 in an area of 44,290 sq. mi.) has experienced four coups, all bloodless. Last week Dahomey suffered its fifth coup in six years, but this time the takeover was not bloodless. When President Emile Zinsou, 51, an able, French-trained medical doctor, arrived at his seaside palace in his black Citröen limousine, soldiers opened fire with automatic weapons, wounding him...
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