By Emmanuel Yashim
Benin’s President Patrice Talon has thanked army leaders for helping to defeat an attempted military coup in the West African nation. He also vowed that the mutineers would be punished.
On Sunday morning, a group of soldiers calling themselves the Military Committee for Refoundation seized control of state television and announced that the government had been dissolved.
Just hours later, the minister of interior said the takeover attempt had been “foiled.”
Talon addressed the nation on Sunday evening:
“I would like to commend the sense of duty of our army and its leaders who remained republican and loyal to the nation.
With them, we stood firm, recaptured our positions, and cleared the last pockets of resistance from the mutants.
This commitment and mobilisation allowed us to thwart these adventurers and save our country. This treachery will not go unpunished.”
Talon also expressed his condolences to the victims of “this senseless adventure.”
He referred to “those still being held by the fleeing mutineers,” and said everything will be done to find them “safe and sound.”
He did not provide figures on casualties or hostages.
Thirteen soldiers have been arrested, according to local media, but it’s unclear whether the coup leader, Lt.-Col. Pascal Tigri was among them.
Gunfire was heard, and soldiers were seen patrolling in some locations in the capital, Cotonou, but the city has been relatively calm since the coup attempt was announced.
The signal to the state television and public radio, which had been cut off, was later restored.
The coup attempt is the latest in a string of military takeovers and attempted takeovers that have rocked West Africa. Last month, a military coup in Guinea-Bissau removed former President Umaro Embalo after a contested election in which both he and the opposition candidate declared themselves winners.
The regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), said it ordered the deployment of troops from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, the Ivory Coast, and Ghana to support Benin’s army to “preserve constitutional order and the territorial integrity of the Republic of Benin.”
ECOWAS earlier called the attempted coup “a subversion of the will of the people of Benin.”
Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu praised the Nigerian armed forces for their involvement in restoring the government in Benin.
In a statement, the Nigerian government’s spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, said Benin’s government made two separate requests for air and ground forces.
“It took some hours before the government’s loyal forces, assisted by Nigeria, took control and flushed out the coup plotters from the National TV,” Onanuga said in the statement.
Following its independence from France in 1960, the West African nation witnessed multiple coups. Since 1991, the country has been politically stable following the two-decade rule of Marxist-Leninist Mathieu Kérékou.
Talon has been in power since 2016 and is due to step down next April after a presidential election. Talon’s party pick, former Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni, is the favorite to win the election.
The electoral commission rejected Renaud Agbodjo because he lacked sufficient sponsors.
In January, two associates of Talon were sentenced to 20 years in prison for an alleged 2024 coup plot.
Last month, the country’s legislature extended the presidential term of office from five to seven years, keeping the term limit at two. (AP/NAN)
