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Benin Says Coup Attempt Foiled as ECOWAS Backs Government and Suspected Leader Remains at Large

Loyal forces retook the state broadcaster as regional support mobilized to shore up constitutional order.

Overview

  • President Patrice Talon said the situation is under control and vowed to secure hostages and hold the mutineers accountable, without giving numbers or identities.
  • Security sources reported around a dozen arrests of participants in the uprising, while Lieutenant Colonel Pascal Tigri, named by the mutineers as their leader, was still at large.
  • The putschists briefly seized the national broadcaster to announce the dissolution of institutions before the signal was cut and restored, with gunfire reported near Camp Guezo by the French embassy.
  • ECOWAS condemned the move and said it deployed a reserve force in Benin, as Nigeria provided air and ground support at the government’s request; troops from Ghana, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone were also cited as part of the effort.
  • Calm returned to Cotonou on Monday under a heavy security presence, following a short-lived insurrection that follows a series of military takeovers in West Africa, including Guinea-Bissau in late November.