Benin’s government confirmed on Monday that there had been “casualties on both sides” after it foiled a coup attempt with the help of foreign military intervention over the weekend. , But the leader of the putsch is reportedly on the run.
“The small group of soldiers who organized the rebellion planned to oust the President of the Republic, subjugate the institutions of the Republic and challenge the established order,” said Edouard Oin-Ori, Secretary General of the Government.
“They initially attempted to neutralize or abduct some generals and senior military officers,” he continued, naming army chief of staff General Abu Issa and National Guard chief of staff Faizou Gomina as those abducted from the Togbin military base.
The two men were eventually released in Tchouraou, a central city more than 350 kilometers (215 miles) from Cotonou, the government said, while the military “surrounded the Togbin base” and “conducted targeted, surgical airstrikes” without threatening surrounding areas.
Benin coup leader Tigris still at large
According to the government, at least 14 people had been arrested in connection with the attempted rebellion as of Monday.
But the whereabouts of potential coup leader Lieutenant Colonel Pascal Tigris, a former artillery officer and member of President Talon’s security department, remained unknown, as did the fate of several hostages.
Talon described the coup late Sunday as a “foolish adventure” and vowed to punish the rebels and ensure the safety of the hostages. He did not reveal their identities, and it was not clear how many were captured, but some of them are believed to be senior military officers.
On Sunday morning, “violent clashes” broke out between army rebels and Republican Guards around the residence of President Patrice Talon in Cotonou, Benin’s economic capital.
The rebels reportedly came close enough for Talon to witness the fighting firsthand, according to an official cabinet account, which said the dead included the wife of General Bertin Bada, the president’s military chief of staff, who was himself mortally wounded in a separate, earlier attack.
Meanwhile, army rebels called themselves the Military Committee for Refoundation (Commit Militaire for Refutation)or CMR, led by Lieutenant Colonel Tigri stormed the national television station and appeared in a broadcast announcing the removal of President Talon, dissolution of the government, and suspension of state institutions.
Why did Nigeria and ECOWAS intervene?
But the coup was repelled by Beninese troops backed by air and ground forces from neighboring Nigeria deployed as part of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) operation, which also included forces from Ghana, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone.
Nigeria and the ECOWAS regional bloc had not intervened in a member state since 2017, when it sent troops to Gambia to force then-President Yahya Jammeh to vacate power after an election defeat.
Recent West African coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea and Gabon did not lead to intervention, leading analysts to criticize ECOWAS for a lack of stability.
“The coup in Benin is just one of many coups,” Oluwole Ojewale, a senior security researcher at the Dakar-based Institute for Security Studies, told the Associated Press (AP). “Nigeria cannot afford to be surrounded by hostile governments.”
Edited by: Dmytro Lyubenko