Benin Says It Foiled a Coup Attempt After Soldiers Seized State TV

Benin’s government said Sunday that it had foiled an attempted coup, hours after a group of soldiers appeared on state television to announce that the president and all state institutions had been removed, according to CBS News and NBC News.

The soldiers called themselves the Military Committee for Refoundation and named Lt. Col. Pascal Tigri as the committee’s president. Eyewitnesses told the BBC, a CBS News partner, that they heard gunshots and that some state broadcaster journalists were held hostage. The French embassy reported gunfire near the president’s residence in Cotonou, the economic capital, and the Russian embassy told its citizens to stay indoors. The U.S. Embassy urged Americans to stay away from Cotonou, especially the area around the presidential compound, CBS News reported.

Interior Minister Alassane Seidou later said in a Facebook video that a “small group of soldiers launched a mutiny with the aim of destabilizing the state and its institutions” in the early hours of Dec. 7, and that the armed forces “remained committed to the republic.” The state TV and radio signal, which had been cut off, was restored.

President Patrice Talon then spoke on national television, condemning the attempt and saying the situation was “completely under control.” He offered condolences “to the victims of this senseless adventure” and said the government would do everything possible to find those still held by the mutineers, though he gave no figures on casualties or hostages, CBS News reported. CBS News reported that local media, citing sources close to the presidency, said 13 soldiers who took part had been arrested. It was unclear whether Tigri had been taken into custody.

The Economic Community of West African States condemned what it called an “unconstitutional move” and pledged to support Benin “in all forms necessary to defend the Constitution and the territorial integrity of Benin,” NBC News reported.

The episode matters in a region that has seen repeated military takeovers. NBC News described it as the latest of many coups in West Africa. Benin gained independence from France in 1960 and had several coups in the decades afterward, but it has been politically stable since 1991 after the two-decade rule of Marxist-Leninist Mathieu Kérékou, both outlets noted.

The political backdrop is a coming transition. NBC News reported that Talon, in power since 2016, is due to step down after a presidential election next April, in which his party’s pick, former Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni, is the favorite. The opposition candidate, Renaud Agbodjo, was rejected by the electoral commission for lacking sufficient sponsors. In January, two associates of Talon were sentenced to 20 years in prison over an alleged 2024 coup plot, and last month the legislature extended the presidential term from five to seven years, NBC reported.

The only U.S. reference in the CBS News report was the embassy’s warning to Americans to stay away from Cotonou.