- President Talon says the situation is under control.
- A group of soldiers previously claimed to have seized power.
- The coup attempt occurs before the presidential elections.
COTONOU: Benin President Patrice Talon said on Sunday that the West African nation’s government and armed forces had thwarted a coup attempt by a group of soldiers and vowed to punish them.
Talon’s announcement Sunday afternoon came about 12 hours after the first shots were heard in several neighborhoods of Cotonou, the country’s largest city and commercial hub, and soldiers appeared on state television to say they had removed Talon from power.
Forces loyal to Talon “held their ground, recaptured our positions and cleared the last pockets of resistance held by the mutineers,” Talon said in his own televised statement.
“This commitment and 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 several people held by the fleeing rioters, without giving details. Reuters could not verify whether there were victims or hostages.
The unrest was the latest threat to democratic rule in the region, where in recent years the military has seized power in neighboring Benin, Niger and Burkina Faso, as well as Mali, Guinea and, just last month, Guinea-Bissau.
But it was an unexpected development in Benin, where the last successful coup took place in 1972.
A government spokesman, Wilfried Leandre Houngbedji, said that as of Sunday afternoon 14 people had been arrested in connection with the coup attempt, without providing details.
At the request of the Talon government, Nigeria sent air force fighter jets to seize Benin’s airspace and help dislodge coup plotters from the state television network and a military camp, according to a statement from Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s office.
Nigeria also sent ground troops, according to the statement.
The West African regional bloc, ECOWAS and the African Union, condemned the coup attempt.
In a later statement, ECOWAS said it had ordered the immediate deployment of elements of its reserve force to Benin, including troops from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Ghana.
Shootings and explosions shake the 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 hope for a truly new era, in which brotherhood, justice and work prevail,” the soldiers’ statement states.
The soldiers cited the deteriorating security situation in northern Benin “along with the disregard and abandonment of our fallen brothers in arms.”
Talon has been credited with reviving the economy since taking office in 2016, but the country has also seen a rise in attacks by jihadist militants that have wreaked havoc in Mali and Burkina Faso.
Foreign Minister Olushegun Adjadi Bakari told Reuters that soldiers had only briefly managed to take control of the state television network.
Gunshots were heard early Sunday morning in several neighborhoods of Cotonou as residents tried to make their way to church.
The French embassy said gunfire had been reported near Talon’s residence in Cotonou and urged citizens to stay home.
In the early afternoon, police were deployed at the main intersections in the city center.
Narcisse, a furniture seller in Cotonou who gave only his first name for security reasons, said he first heard gunshots at 8 a.m. (0700 GMT) and soon saw police officers speeding by.
“I got scared and brought my couches inside and closed them. It’s a little quieter now, so I opened back up,” she said.
More gunshots and explosions were heard in Cotonou early Sunday afternoon, witnesses said, but the sounds stopped before Talon’s statement was broadcast.
Elections on the horizon
Benin is preparing for a presidential election in April that is expected to mark the end of Talon’s term.
Last month, Benin adopted a new constitution that creates a Senate and extends the presidential term from five to seven years, in what critics said was a power grab by the ruling coalition, which nominated Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni as its candidate.
The opposition Democrats party, founded by Talon’s predecessor, Thomas Boni Yayi, saw its proposed candidate rejected because a court ruled it was insufficient support from lawmakers.
The deteriorating security situation in the north was 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 has been the hardest hit among West African coastal states by jihadist groups that have made significant gains in the central Sahel, he said, a fact underlined by major attacks in January and April that killed dozens of soldiers.
However, he said Sunday’s coup attempt came as 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 coup in 50 years? It’s a great feat for a West African country,” he said.
