Crisis in Benin: Ecowas worldwide neighborhood sends troops to Benin | EUROtoday

The West African neighborhood of states Ecowas has arrange a navy intervention drive Benin despatched. The troopers are imagined to assist the federal government and shield the nation’s constitutional order. Soldiers from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Ivory Coast are collaborating within the operation.

There had beforehand been stories of an tried coup in Benin. Shots had been fired close to the presidential palace, a gaggle of navy officers occupied the state tv station and declared the president of Benin deposed. On Sunday night, Benin’s President Patrice Talon introduced that the state of affairs was now fully beneath management.

Nigeria apparently additionally contributed to the stabilization air drive at. Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu stated the air drive was deployed at Benin’s request to manage the airspace and perform speedy operations in coordination with the neighboring nation. He additionally confirmed that Nigerian floor troops had been already in Benin. The fighter jets helped drive the coup plotters from the state tv headquarters and a navy base, it stated. Media stories spoke of explosions following suspected air strikes within the port metropolis of Cotonou, the seat of presidency.

Interior Minister Alassane Seydou later stated it was solely a small group of coup plotters. President Talon thanked the troopers and navy management who remained loyal to the nation and the Constitution. The tried coup won’t go unpunished, Talon stated.

Criticism of the president’s authoritarian fashion

Benin is an agricultural state with round 15 million inhabitants and a big cotton manufacturing. The nation is among the poorest nations on the earth. The former French colony has to this point been one of many extra steady democracies in Africa. After independence from the colonial energy France in 1960, the historical past of the West African nation was initially dominated by tried coups. In 1991 there was a peaceable transition from dictatorship to a democratic authorities. After that, the nation was lengthy thought of a well-functioning multi-party democracy.

The 67-year-old former businessman Talon is also referred to as the “Cotton King of Cotonou”. After ten years within the presidency, in accordance with the structure, he should hand over energy in April 2026. His time period in workplace was characterised by stable financial progress, but in addition by a rise in Islamist violence. There can be rising criticism that Talon is main his nation in an more and more authoritarian method. Numerous opposition leaders had been imprisoned or went into exile.