France provided intelligence and logistical assistance to Benin to help foil Sunday’s coup attempt, officials from the French presidency said on Tuesday.
Benin’s President Patrice Talon announced on Sunday that the government and armed forces had successfully stopped a group of mutinying soldiers who tried to overthrow him.
According to French officials, Paris also shared intelligence with Nigeria, which deployed fighter jets and ground troops to support its smaller neighbour at Benin’s request, Reuters reported.
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The incident marks the latest challenge to democratic governance in West Africa, a region where militaries have toppled governments in several neighbouring countries, including Niger and Burkina Faso, as well as Mali, Guinea, and most recently Guinea-Bissau.
France’s role comes despite its broader military pullback from West Africa, following a wave of coups that forced Paris to scale down decades of security influence in the region.
Since 2022, France has sharply reduced its footprint in West and Central Africa, ending major counterterrorism missions in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad and Côte d’Ivoire, and closing its remaining bases in Senegal amid rising anti-French sentiment.
Paris now largely limits its involvement to training, intelligence-sharing and targeted support requested by individual governments.
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ECOWAS declares state of emergency
Ministers have been urged to hold more frequent meetings over the next year and to pool national resources to confront terrorism, banditry and cross-border crime.
Priority areas identified for continued oversight include the crisis in Guinea-Bissau, ongoing political transitions across multiple countries, and rising concerns over political exclusion.
