Benin coup leader’s location and fate of hostages unknown after failed takeover
LAGOS Nigeria AP The apparent leader of a failed coup in Benin remained on the run and the fate of hostages remained unclear on Monday a day after a group of soldiers attempted to overthrow the authorities of the West African nation The soldiers calling themselves the Committee for Refoundation stormed the national television station on Sunday morning Led by Lt Col Pascal Tigri eight soldiers appeared in a broadcast announcing the removal of President Patrice Talon dissolution of the executive and suspension of state institutions Before the coup Tigri was a member of Talon s protection detail As an artillery officer he commanded a National Guard battalion between and By Sunday afternoon the coup was foiled by Benin s military supported by Nigerian air and ground forces which launched attacks against fleeing mutineers At least a dozen soldiers were arrested while others remained at large Tigri s whereabouts weren t known Calm returned to Cotonou Benin s administrative center with soldiers on the streets Talon described the coup late Sunday as a senseless adventure and announced the situation was under control He vowed to punish mutineers and ensure the safety of hostages including particular deduced to be senior military officers He didn t disclose their identities and it wasn t clear how multiple were held The Economic Population of West African States or ECOWAS stated Sunday that it had deployed a standby force to Benin to help preserve democracy The troops included personnel from Nigeria Ghana Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone The size of the force was unclear A Nigerian administration spokesperson disclosed in a comment that Talon had requested Nigeria s help It wasn t clear how countless personnel or how much equipment had been deployed Nigeria and the ECOWAS regional bloc hadn t intervened in a member state since when it sent troops to Gambia to force then President Yahya Jammeh to vacate power following his ballot loss The bloc led by Nigeria tried to intervene in Niger after the country s coup At that time Nigerian President Bola Tinubu led the bloc His threat to intervene if the junta didn t restore the ousted democratic ruling body resulted in a standoff between the bloc and three junta-led countries and they later left the bloc Analysts say Nigeria has a strategic interest in defending its borders especially now while it experiences a severe safeguard emergency The coup in Benin is one too numerous Nigeria cannot afford to be encircled by hostile governments Oluwole Ojewale a senior guard researcher at Dakar-based Institute for Safeguard Studies informed The Associated Press The attempted coup is the latest in a spate of coups that have rocked West Africa since Soldiers seized power last month in Guinea-Bissau after a disputed vote effect following Mali Burkina Faso Niger Chad Guinea and Gabon among the countries that have experienced similar takeovers in the past five years Analysts say ECOWAS lacks consistency in its response In Gabon and Guinea-Bissau the bloc was less assertive and it has watched selected other leaders stay in office via constitutional changes You can make the argument that Tinubu needed to show various strength in preserving democracy but this now speaks to ECOWAS double standard It would appear that there are certain presidents who are part of the club and when they behave anyhow nobody says anything disclosed Cheta Nwanze a partner at the Lagos-based SBM Intelligence geopolitical consultancy firm Despite a history of coups following its independence from France in Benin has enjoyed relative calm in the past two decades The country is set to elect a new president in April because Talon is set to leave office after a decade in power AP s Africa coverage at https apnews com hub africa Source
