- President Talon says the situation is under control.
- A group of soldiers had earlier claimed to have seized power.
- The coup attempt comes before the presidential elections.
COTONOU: Beninese President Patrice Talon said Sunday that the West African country’s government and armed forces had foiled a coup attempt by a group of soldiers and vowed to punish them.
Talon’s announcement Sunday evening came about 12 hours after gunfire first erupted in several neighborhoods of Cotonou, the country’s largest city and commercial hub, and soldiers declared on state television that they had removed Talon from power.
Forces loyal to Talon “held their ground, retook our positions and eliminated the last pockets of resistance held by the mutineers,” Talon said in its own televised statement.
“This commitment and this mobilization allowed us to defeat these adventurers and avoid the worst for our country… This betrayal will not go unpunished.”
Talon said his thoughts were with the victims of the coup attempt as well as a number of people detained by the fleeing mutineers, without giving details. Reuters was unable to verify whether there were any casualties or hostages.
The unrest poses the latest threat to democratic rule in the region, where the military has seized power in recent years in Benin’s neighbors Niger and Burkina Faso, as well as Mali, Guinea and, just last month, Guinea-Bissau.
But this is an unexpected development in Benin, where the last successful coup took place in 1972.
A government spokesman, Wilfried Léandre Houngbedji, said 14 people had been arrested in connection with the coup attempt on Sunday afternoon, without providing details.
At the request of Talon’s government, Nigeria sent air force fighter jets to seize Benin’s airspace to help dislodge coup plotters from the state television station and a military camp, according to a statement from Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s office.
Nigeria also sent ground troops, the statement said.
West Africa’s regional bloc ECOWAS and the African Union condemned the coup attempt.
In a subsequent statement, ECOWAS said it had ordered the immediate deployment of elements of its standby force in Benin, including troops from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Ghana.
Gunfire and explosions ravage largest city
At least eight soldiers, several of them armed, appeared on state television on Sunday morning to announce that a military committee led by Colonel Tigri Pascal was dissolving national institutions, suspending the constitution and closing air, land and sea borders.
“The army solemnly undertakes to give the Beninese people the hope of a truly new era, where fraternity, justice and work will reign,” the military said in a press release.
The soldiers spoke of the deterioration of the security situation in northern Benin “coupled with contempt and neglect towards our fallen brothers in arms”.
Talon is credited with boosting the economy since coming to power in 2016, but the country has also seen an increase in attacks by jihadist militants who have wreaked havoc in Mali and Burkina Faso.
Foreign Minister Olushegun Adjadi Bakari told Reuters that soldiers only briefly managed to take control of the state television channel.
Gunshots were heard early Sunday in several neighborhoods of Cotonou as residents tried to go to church.
The French embassy said gunshots were reported near Talon’s residence in Cotonou and urged citizens to stay at home.
By early afternoon, police were deployed at the main intersections in the city center.
Narcisse, a furniture seller in Cotonou who only gave his first name for security reasons, said he first heard gunshots at 8 a.m. (0700 GMT) and quickly saw police speeding past.
“I got scared, I brought my sofas in and closed. It’s a little quieter now, that’s why I reopened,” he said.
More gunshots and explosions were heard in Cotonou early Sunday evening, witnesses said, but the noises had stopped before Talon’s statement was broadcast.
Elections on the horizon
Benin is preparing for a presidential election in April which is expected to mark the end of Talon’s mandate.
Last month, Benin adopted a new constitution creating a Senate and extending the presidential term from five to seven years, in what critics called a power grab by the ruling coalition, which named Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni as its candidate.
The opposition Democrats party, founded by Talon’s predecessor Thomas Boni Yayi, saw its proposed candidate rejected due to what a court ruled was insufficient support from lawmakers.
The deteriorating security situation in the north is likely a factor behind the soldiers’ actions, said Nina Wilen, director of the Africa program at the Egmont Institute for International Relations in Belgium.
Benin is the coastal West African state hardest hit by jihadist groups who have made major advances in the central Sahel, she said, a fact highlighted by major attacks in January and April that killed dozens of soldiers.
Nonetheless, she said Sunday’s coup attempt was a surprise given Benin’s relative stability after a series of coups and attempted coups in the first decades after independence from France in 1960.
“No coups in 50 years? This is a major achievement for a West African country,” she said.
