Ahmadinejad in Benin, the first stop of his west African tour Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday defended his country's controversial nuclear programme while on a tour of west Africa, calling it peaceful and arguing that Tehran has no use for an atomic bomb. Speaking during a visit to Benin, the first stop on a three-nation tour, Ahmadinejad called nuclear energy a "divine gift" providing affordable electricity. Images of his arrival at the Cotonou airport and meeting with Benin's President, Thomas Boni Yayi at the presidential palace