Benin’s president said the “situation is completely under control” in his country after the government thwarted an attempted coup, thanks to loyalist soldiers with support from Nigerian forces.
A group of soldiers on Sunday announced on state television that they had ousted Beninese President Patrice Talon.
That sparked a swift response from loyal army forces, joined by air strikes and troop deployments from neighboring Nigeria.
Photo: Benin TV, Reuters TV via Reuters
Beninese military and security sources said about a dozen soldiers had been arrested, including those behind the coup bid.
West Africa has experienced a number of coups over the past few years, including in Niger and Burkina Faso, as well as Mali, Guinea and, most recently, Guinea-Bissau.
“I would like to assure you that the situation is completely under control and therefore invite you to calmly go about your activities starting this very evening,” Talon on late Sunday said on state broadcaster Benin TV.
Talon is due to hand over power in April next year after 10 years in office marked by solid economic growth, but also a surge in jihadist violence.
Early on Sunday, soldiers calling themselves the “Military Committee for Refoundation” announced on state television that they had met and decided that “Mr Patrice Talon is removed from office as president of the republic.”
Shortly after the announcement, a source close to Talon said the president was safe, condemning the coup plotters as “a small group of people who only control the television.”
“The regular army is regaining control. The city [Cotonou] and the country are completely secure,” the source added. “It’s just a matter of time before everything returns to normal. The clean-up is progressing well.”
Nigerian fighter planes later that day struck undisclosed targets as Beninese forces conducted countercoup operations, a source in the Nigerian presidency said.
West African regional bloc ECOWAS said troops from Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Sierra Leone were being deployed to the country to help the government “preserve constitutional order.”
Meanwhile, residents went about their business.
“The coup was foiled, thank God. But we have to think about what to do so this kind of thing doesn’t happen again,” said one street vendor in Cotonou, Adam Aminou.
“We had a few scary moments,” retired teacher Jennifer Adokpeto said. “We really thought, seeing the statement being repeated on a loop on TV, that it was really a coup d’etat and that our country was going to go the way of some of our neighbors.”
A military source said the coup plotters had taken neither Talon’s residence nor the presidential offices.
The eight rebel soldiers who appeared on television were carrying assault rifles and wearing berets of various colors.
They proclaimed lieutenant colonel Pascal Tigri as “president” of their “refoundation” committee and justified their action by citing the “continuous deterioration of the security situation in northern Benin.”
The “neglect of soldiers killed in action and their families left to fend for themselves” as well as “unjust promotions at the expense of the most deserving” were also motivations, they added.
The African Union said it “unequivocally condemns” the attempted coup.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply concerned by the attempt to unconstitutionally seize power in Benin”, adding that such attempts could “further threaten the stability of the region.”
Former colonial power France and the organization of French-speaking countries also condemned the coup.
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 dubbed the “cotton king of Cotonou,” came to power in 2016 and has been praised for bringing economic development to Benin, but is regularly accused by his critics of authoritarianism.
He is due to reach the end of his second term next year, the maximum allowed by the constitution.
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