A group of military officers in Benin claimed on Sunday they had removed the West African country’s president from power and dissolved the government.
Calling themselves the Comité Militaire pour la Refondation on state TV SRTB, the soldiers named Lieutenant-Colonel Pascal Tigri as Benin’s new leader and said the country’s borders were closed.
Benin’s interior minister Alassane Seidou said the country’s armed forces thwarted the attempted coup.
Mr Seidou said the situation was an attempt at destabilising the state and its institutions, and that armed forces had brought the situation “under control”.
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Residents in Cotonou said they heard gunfire in the commercial capital early on Sunday, with police and military positioned at strategic intersections and around the port, adding to uncertainty over the situation.
The soldiers calling themselves the Comité Militaire pour la Refondation said they took control in response to deteriorating security in the country’s north, economic mismanagement and “widespread abuses under Talon’s administration”.
President Patrice Talon, who has not appeared or commented on the coup attempt, is safe and the army is regaining control, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. If the attempt had succeeded, Benin would have been the ninth country in the region to undergo a coup since 2020.
A former businessman, Mr Talon secured a second term in 2021 with 86 per cent of the vote after the main opposition party leader and ex-president, Thomas Boni Yayi, was barred from running. He is set to step down in 2026 and has chosen finance minister Romuald Wadagni – widely credited with guiding Benin’s strong economic performance – as his successor for the April elections.
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One of Africa’s top cotton producers, Benin has sought to diversify an economy that grew 6.7 per cent in 2024, up from 6.4 per cent the previous year, according to World Bank data. That apparent economic progress has unfolded alongside the arrest of political opponents and a growing Islamist insurgency in the country’s north. It remains one of Africa’s poorest nations.
Since 2020, juntas have seized control in a belt of countries that stretch from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, with Mali, Niger, Guinea and Burkina Faso also under military rule. The takeovers have been rooted in economic malaise and weak governance that have fed frustration among civilians and the spread of extremist violence.
Soldiers claiming to have taken control remained inside the TV station around 10am local time on Sunday, holding staff hostage as the national guard surrounded the building. All institutions and political party activities in Benin have been suspended, and borders are closed until further notice, the soldiers said, adding that the country’s international commitments and human rights will be respected. – Bloomberg
