By Ghazali Ibrahim
Soldiers in Benin on Sunday announced that they had seized power, dissolving the government and suspending the constitution, in what if successful would make the country the latest in a growing list of Francophone and West/Central African states under military rule.
The group, calling itself the Military Committee for Refoundation (CMR), appeared on state television governed by the Pascal Tigri‑led faction.
They declared the removal of Patrice Talon from office, announced the dissolution of all state institutions, and closed the country’s borders.
Gunfire was reported in multiple neighbourhoods of Cotonou, including near the president’s residence, and the national broadcaster’s signal was cut soon after the announcement.
Yet within hours the government pushed back: a senior minister said loyalist forces including large sections of the army were contesting the takeover.
According to the government, only the state broadcaster had fallen, and the overall “situation remains under control.”
Observers say Benin’s attempted coup comes amid a broader surge of military takeovers across Francophone West and Central Africa including recent coups in neighbours such as Guinea‑Bissau illustrating a widening trend of democratic backsliding in the region.
With presidential elections slated for April 2026, the turmoil casts deep uncertainty over the future of governance in Benin raising urgent questions about the resilience of democratic institutions across the region, the standing of regional blocs such as ECOWAS, and the stability of West and Central Africa as a whole.
