DAKAR, Senegal — Benin’s government said Sunday that it thwarted a coup attempt by a group of soldiers who announced a government takeover on state television hours earlier.
Early Sunday, eight soldiers who called themselves the Military Committee for Refoundation said the president and all state institutions had been removed. They justified the coup by saying it would restore “national cohesion” and declared that all land and sea borders were closed. The Associated Press reported that gunshots were heard around the presidential residence.
Interior Minister Alassane Seidou said in a video statement that soldiers had “engaged in a mutiny aimed at destabilizing the state and its institutions.”
“In the face of this situation, the Beninese armed forces and their hierarchy, faithful to their oath, remained republicans. Their retaliation allowed us to keep control of the situation and to fail the maneuver,” Seidou said.
After the rebels announced the takeover, the broadcast was cut, and the streets close to the presidential residence were placed under the control of Benin’s national guard, local media reported.
The attempted coup followed a successful one last month in Guinea-Bissau and marked the latest in a string of takeovers in West Africa in recent years. Analysts said it showed the fragility of democracy in Benin, where President Patrice Talon has been in power since 2016.
There have been coups in nearby Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Guinea over the past five years.
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