He President of Benin, Patrice Talonstated this Sunday that the “situation is completely under control” in his country, after an attempted coup d’état recorded earlier in the day.
Early on Sunday, a group of soldiers calling themselves the Military Committee for the Refoundation (CMR) claimed on public television to have “removed” Talon.
However, shortly after the announcement, a source close to the president indicated that the head of state was safe and that the army was regaining control.
“I want to assure you that the situation is completely under control (…). Security and public order will be maintained throughout the national territory,” Talon declared Sunday night on national television.
Military sources told AFP that a dozen soldiers, including the ringleaders of the coup attempt, were detained.
In recent years, West Africa has seen numerous coups d’état, in countries such as Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Guinea and, most recently, at the end of November, in Guinea-Bissau.
Talon must hand over power in April next year, after ten years in office marked by solid economic growth but also by an uptick in jihadist violence.
Regional support
According to the Minister of the Interior, Alassane Seidou“a small group of soldiers began an uprising with the aim of destabilizing the State and its institutions. Faced with this situation, the Beninese Armed Forces and their hierarchy (…) managed to maintain control of the situation and thwart the maneuver.”
Neighboring Nigeria’s air force attacked undisclosed targets while Beninese forces carried out counter-coup operations, a source in the Nigerian presidency told AFP.
For its part, the West African regional bloc, ECOWAS, said troops from Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Sierra Leone were being deployed to the country to “support the Benin Government and Republican Army and preserve the constitutional order.”
AFP correspondents said they heard gunshots early Sunday in the streets of Cotonou, the economic capital, as soldiers blocked access to the presidency and the state television building.
In other areas, however, residents continued with their daily activities.
“The coup was thwarted, thank God. But we have to think about what to do so that this type of thing does not happen again,” a street vendor in Cotonou, Adam Aminou, told AFP.
“We had some scary moments,” said retired teacher Jennifer Adokpeto.
“We really thought, when we saw the statement repeated on television, that it was a coup d’état and that our country was going to follow the path of some of our neighbors,” he added.
A military source confirmed that the situation is “under control” and that the coup plotters did not take “neither the residence of the head of state, nor the presidency.”
Several embassies recommended their citizens remain at home whenever possible.
“Deterioration” of the situation
The eight rebel soldiers who appeared on television carried assault rifles and wore berets of different colors.
They proclaimed Lieutenant Colonel Pascal Tigri as “chairman” of their “refoundation” committee and justified their action by citing the “continuing deterioration of the security situation in northern Benin”.
Benin’s political history has been marked by several coups and attempted coups since its independence from France in 1960.
Talon, a 67-year-old former businessman nicknamed the “cotton king of Cotonou,” came to power in 2016.
His second term is scheduled to conclude in 2026, the maximum allowed by the Constitution.
The main opposition party was excluded from the upcoming elections that will pit the ruling party against an opponent considered “moderate.”
Although he is recognized for the economic development of Benin, the opposition accuses Talon of an authoritarian turn in a country that previously stood out for the vitality of its democracy.
